Vans prove dangerous for traveling teams

by Jessica Snow sports editor

Economically speaking 15-passenger vans are an excellent way for colleges to transport athletes to and from their competitions. However, this practice is beginning to appear very dangerous.

In the past four months there have been at least six accidents involving these vehicles in which students and their coaches were injured or died.

Douglas Mosley, the sports information director for the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics told the New York Times that he "can not remember a year that's gone by that we haven't had news of an accident involving a 15-passenger van."

However, he informs that the economics of the situation do not allow many other options because many schools do not have the money to charter buses or fly teams to games.

The most recent accident was between a tractor trailer and a van holding 9 members of the Tennessee-Martin baseball team and their coach. The accident happened near Memphis as the coach, Victor Cates, was driving the players home from a game against Mississippi. Cates and two players were left in critical condition.

Last month four athletes from Prairie View A&M's track team were not as lucky. They died when the school's van, which a studen.t was driving, swerved off of an east Texas road.

Since a January 13 accident involving Kenyon College students the school's athletic director has temporarily stopped using vans to transport students. Molly Hatcher, a senior and the captain of Kenyon's women's swim team, was killed. Hatcher's teammate, junior Sarah Steen, was driving the van when it fishtailed, skidded off the icy road into a guardrail and flipped over minutes away from the campus.

The school is currently searching for new guidelines and regulations for decieding when to charter buses and find other forms of transportation for students.

Until then, Kenyon is chartering buses for all of it's athletic competitions.

It is the job of individual schools to decide how to transport teams when the school's state does not regulate the practice.

Some schools require anyone driving students to be licensed specifically for that purpose, others do not need anything more than a regular drivers license. Some charter buses for longer trips, but allow van travel for closer competitions.

According to Leslie Danehy.the assistant athletic director, Cabrini's policy is to charter buses for trips over 60-70 miles and to use vans and mini-buses for closer games. Only coaches are permitted to drive the vans and a certified driver is used for the mini-buses. But, even with precautions taken, accidents happen.

"We had a minor accident with a mini-bus recently, but that was a certified driver, not a coach or a student," Danehy reported.