ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York has the highest asthma rates in the country according to state health officials and legislators, which is why Assemblyman Peter Rivera (D) co-authored legislation last year to ban the idling of the state's 55,000 school buses while on school property.
Rivera said, "This is not about the buses. This is about the kids. This is about the 400,000 kids in New York State that have asthma. This is about trying to find a partial solution for those kids."
Citing record high asthma rates, Albany legislators are urging the state Board of Regents to ban school bus idling. Schools are required to do so under legislation passed in 2007. And as our Ryan Peterson found out, some districts took it upon themselves to impose an idling ban years ago.
Bethlehem Central fourth grader Maya Martinez said, "There's a bus right in front of my classroom window. When we have the windows open to let fresh air in, we used to smell diesel. Since the law passed, that won't happen anymore."
Dutchess County fifth grader Annie Sullivan's science project found that her town's biggest area of air pollution was at the middle school bus parking lot. Her results forced the district's head of transportation to act.
Sullivan said, "He put catalytic mufflers on the buses to make them run cleaner. He made a rule that the buses can't idle while kids are getting on and waiting for them."
For some school districts, like Raven-Coeymans-Selkirk, turning buses off while they wait for students has been a matter of policy for over three years now.
RCS Central Head Bus Driver Kevin Williams said, "There used to be a no idling for five minutes rule. Now the drivers, whenever they're in a position to be stopped for an extended period of time, we have them shut down. Saves on both emissions and fuel."
The proposed regulations will be submitted for approval at the June Regents meeting following a public comment period.