Bus safety has never been a topic to heavily discussed in terms of hostage situations or hostile takeovers, but with recent happenings maybe it should be. Students safety is at risk in the event of a bus crash or collision with another vehicle, but they are even more  in danger when a stranger with a lethal weapon  gains access to the bus itself.

             On a Thursday morning, 22 year old man armed with a knife boarded and took over an Arkansas elementary school bus. He held the bus driver and the 11 elementary school children captive while he went on a 10 mile chase evading law enforcement. Nicholas John Miller the   Arkansas man who is responsible for this incident. .http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/17/justice/arkansas-school-bus-hijacked/

The entire chase was caught on a camera phone of a bystander who witnessed the incident from his car. Miller was charged with a total of 15 felonies including kidnapping, aggravated assault and vehicle piracy.

           Another illegal incident regarding a child on a bus was the kidnapping of  a 5 year old Alabama boy named Ethan. He was taken from his bus after a man had gained access to the bus and killed the bus driver. He was held in an underground bunker for 6 days, and was later rescued by authorities when they invaded the bunker and fatally shot the captor to rescue Ethan.

           Kaneland has never had any incident of this magnitude regarding bus safety, Bus drivers go through training exercises on a monthly basis in a program “School bus held hostage” and a program called “School bus first observer“ by Coastal Training Technologies. Key factors to avoiding possible conflicts and keeping children safe which is the main priority is to, “Ask for student release, remain calm and not to do or say anything that would provoke the criminal and most importantly keep radio lines open” said Mr. Ogle, director of transportation for Kaneland District. Kaneland bus safety is taken very seriously according to Assistant superintendent Mrs.Fuchs.

      Incidents like these  should be taken into account by all states and school systems. If more caution is taken, then events like these can be prevented for the safety of students nationwide.