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New safety procedures for school buses go into effect

The New Year means new school bus safety policies are in effect across the state. George Olsen has more.

The policy approved by the state Board of Education in July will in essence turn the bus driver into a crossing guard. The driver will use a series of hand signals to alert students when it is safe to cross a street… the driver will hold a palm up indicating to wait until it’s safe to cross. When the driver determines it is, a thumbs up will be given followed by using the index finger to point in the direction the student should proceed. The safety policy is in response to five students being injured last academic year by motorists passing stopped school buses. Data indicates more than 3000 cars per day do not halt for stopped school buses. I’m George Olsen.

George Olsen is a 1977 Havelock High School graduate. He received his B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Carolina in 1982 where he got his first taste of non-commercial radio working for their student station WUSC. After graduation he worked about five years in commercial radio before coming to work at Public Radio East where he has remained since outside of a nearly 3-year stint as jazz and operations coordinator at WUAL in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the early 1990s. On his return to eastern North Carolina he hosted classical music for Public Radio East before moving into the Morning Edition host position and now can be heard on All Things Considered. He also hosts and produces The Sound, five hours of Americana, Roots Rock and Contemporary Folk weekday evenings on PRE Public Radio East News & Ideas, and is a news and feature producer for Public Radio East.