[stuartcr]

Who would want to drive an un airconditioned school bus, full of evacuees, when you have your own family to take care of? Certainly not the regular school bus drivers, what other city employees would do it? Is it even legal to just hand over the keys to city property to anyone that says they can drive a bus? Who is liable in case of an accident?

[CheneyChick]

It's about saving lives. If a 20 year old kid could figure out how to drive a bus, I'm sure lots of folks could. Better to have tried, then to just sit around and let people drown.

[Presby Conservative]

Regarding the comment pasted below. I am pretty sure that as soon as a mandatory evacuation order is issued that many, if not most, of the normal liability statutes are set aside.



Who would want to drive an un airconditioned school bus, full of evacuees, when you have your own family to take care of? Certainly not the regular school bus drivers, what other city employees would do it? Is it even legal to just hand over the keys to city property to anyone that says they can drive a bus? Who is liable in case of an accident?

[pepperdog]

There was a New Orleans evacuation plan. Unless the people who prepared it were dumber than dirt there were also provisions to supply drivers. When you are talking about saving people's lives air conditioning becomes secondary (and believe me, I love my a/c so I don't say this lightly). The legalities of who should get the keys and if the city if liable are questions that could have been debated AFTER rescuing people. The handling of the evac by the city of NO was a complete SNAFU from the word go,or in this case NO GO.

[Rebelbase]

I drove a school bus full of kids on a field trip the first time I ever sat in the bus driver's seat.

[keats5]

The school bus drivers would be part of the evacuation plan. They would know their duties ahead of time, and make appropriate child care arrangements, just as other first responders would. This isn't rocket science. Other states routinely use school buses in emergencies.

[cav68]

This is a no brainier, anybody who can start a car could have driven a bus out with their own families with them, this would have at least saved that family and the bus would be usuable. The responsibility first lies with the individual and then local,state,federal. You can lead a horse to water but you can not make them drink.

[McGavin999]

Who would want to drive an un airconditioned school bus, full of evacuees, when you have your own family to take care of? Certainly not the regular school bus drivers, what other city employees would do it? Is it even legal to just hand over the keys to city property to anyone that says they can drive a bus? Who is liable in case of an accident?

They had advanced warning. Either the families should have been taken out immediately so the drivers could report for duty, or the families could have been on the first buses out. It's called planning.

[RobbyS]

All logical questions, and I am sure the Mayor's lawyers rposed them to him. Moral of the story: first kill all the lawyers.