In the aftermath of a recent consumer advisory by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Penn Athletic Department has forbidden students from driving 15-passenger vans to practices and away games.
According to an April statement from NHTSA, 15-passenger vans transporting more than 10 passengers are nearly three times more likely to roll over in single-vehicle accidents than lightly loaded vans with less than five occupants. Often, the vans involved in accidents are driven by students, rather than professional drivers.
The new rule causes problems for some athletic teams, who frequently use student drivers to transport athletes. Under the revised policy, the vans will be driven by coaches and other Athletic Department employees.
"It's an inconvenience to me right now, but it's better than us not doing anything" about the findings, men's cross country coach Charlie Powell said.
Powell regularly uses two 15-passenger vans to transport the team the three miles between Penn's campus and Fairmount Park, where they usually practice.
One of the vans is always driven by a coach, while the other is often driven by a team captain on days when Powell opts to remain on campus with other track team members. Now, Powell will either have to cut short throwing practice or enlist the help of another athletic employee.
Penn Transit Services, which uses student-driven 15-passenger vans for the PennShuttle, will make no changes to their service. Manager of Transportation Services Ron Ward said this is because PennShuttle drivers are highly trained, despite the fact that many are Penn and Drexel University students.
"We have a fairly rigorous training program for new drivers, and we have an ongoing evaluation program where we assess drivers' skills and abilities," he said.
Discussions on the use of the vans by campus organizations began last spring between the Office of the Provost, the Office of Risk Management and all campus organizations that use the vans.
"We didn't want to impose a rule that does not allow any 15-passenger vans," said Ron Jasner, associate director of the Office of Risk Management.
The individual departments will decide whether or not to continue using the vans and who will be allowed to drive them.
Discussions within the Athletic Department centered around athletes becoming exhausted after practices and competitions, which could cause athletes to drive recklessly or fall asleep behind the wheel.
In addition, team members receive no training prior to operating the vans, a far cry from the rigorous training of all PennShuttle employees.
Ultimately, the Athletic Department chose to ban student sports team members from operating the vans, a step taken by several other Ivy League schools.
"Some teams are affected more than others," Athletic Department spokeswoman Carla Shultzberg said. "Cross country is probably the hardest hit in the fall because they run off campus."
The Athletic Department will "increase the use of bus travel for away games," Shultzberg added.
