Smoking is one more thing to divert their eye from the road. Vox Populi column - alerted Day to the problem, he said. He was shocked to learn no state law prohibited school bus drivers from smoking. Bus drivers with Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools, like students, long have been banned from smoking on their vehicles, said Tom Williams, branch manager for Laidlaw Transit, the private company that runs buses for the school system. Drivers caught smoking on buses undergo disciplinary action, Williams said.
Students do also, as long as the bus driver reports the violation to the school system.
Video cameras are in place on buses to enforce those safety codes. Smoking at the school bus wheel is unsafe and a bad example, she said. Making it state law would help emphasize the districtwide rule. It's a serious job. But even with 315 buses running daily in the Chatham schools system, there aren't many complaints about smoking bus drivers.