Weekly Hornet

Issue date: 9/19/07 Section: News

Photo by Tommy Van Deusen

Last Thursday, the women's water polo team and two coaches were left to their own devices when a school van broke down while the team was on its way to a tournament at West Valley College.

The team was stranded late at night on the side of a dimly-lit highway in Casa De Frutas between Highway 5 and the 101 freeway. There was no CHP station nearby that could help. One of the girls had a AAA membership and the company sent someone to tow the car.

The team was then faced with the question of how they were going to get to San Carlos, which was another 60 miles away. The tow truck driver towed the team to their hotel and they arrived well after midnight.

The van was left at the service station in San Carlos. The following morning the team once again had to secure means of transportation.

The cousin of one of the players drove out to meet the team and took them to the San Jose airport. There, Pete Snyder, the women's water polo coach, rented two minivans at his own expense. At the time of print he is awaiting reimbursement.

The water polo team then played a game at 10 a.m. with less than six hours of sleep. On Saturday morning they went to pick up the van, and on their way back to Orange County, it broke down again. The team travelled home in rented minivans and the van that broke down is still being repaired in San Carlos.

Although the student athletes and coaches were able to arrive home safely, the lack of safety measures in their situation has been a cause for alarm. Over 300 field trips and off-campus athletic events take place each year, and according to Snyder, it is the District's responsibility to provide reasonable care in the transportaion of its students.

"Newer, safer, 12-passenger vans have been requested through the governance process at the college for the last several years, but to no avial," Snyder said. "I won't call this a crisis mode, but when we're asking students to drive themselves, or putting them into vans that shouldn't be driven as frequently, it begs a sense of urgency."

The 15-passenger van the water polo team traveled in had 80,000 miles on it and was transporting the team along with luggage and equipment.

"I asked about this particular van and was told that it has been serviced and hadn't been taken anywhere during the summer," Snyder said. "We were under the impression that it was in good order mechanically."

The current van fleet operates with 15-passenger vans that were deemed unsafe by the Natoinal Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2001.

According to Snyder, research shows that 15 passenger vans have a 40 percent greater risk of mechanical failure compared to vans with less than 10 passengers.

"I think there should be an adequ­ate ratio of vans to students available and if not there should be plans for adequate school funded transportation to meet the needs," Snyder said. "There should be a set of plans for emergencies and contingencies."

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