Posted: 12/5/07
Olseen works toward safer student transportation
 William and Karen Berglund of Scandia, testified before a Senate subcommittee on Friday (Nov. 30) pertaining to state laws regarding the operation of student transportation vans. Their daughter Amanda was recently killed in a van accident — the van driver had been using drugs. |
By T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
A Senate Education subcommittee on Friday (Nov. 30) co-chaired by Sen Rick Olseen, DFL-Harris, and Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, met to discuss student transportation by van.
William and Karen Berglund of Scandia, testified before the committee concerning the loss of their 14-year-old daughter Amanda, killed as a passenger in a van driven by a driver who had been smoking marijuana and whose driving record was laced with speeding tickets.
The parents had assumed the van was operated by the school district, not a private contractor.
Currently, anyone with a driver's license can obtain a job as a van driver — called Type III vehicles — and transport students, Olseen explained.
"Our goal is to change that," he said.
Olseen is proposing to tighten law pertaining to operating Type III vehicles.
For instance, the senator is proposing that operators be subject to random drug and alcohol testing, among other requirements..
Olseen plans to carry the legislation in the Senate.
He is looking for a House bill co-author.
Olseen found the Berglund's testimony before the committee powerful. There was hardly a dry eye by the time they finished, he said.
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