It sounds like it should be the next season of True Detective, these Canadian cops trying to solve this mystery of who spiked the chowder on the Titanic set. Listen to very special episodes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, and welcome to the ShortStuff. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and there's Jerry, and the driver's seat, hopping along, bouncing along in our little stuff you should know, school bus. Two quick questions off the top. Did you ever have to ride a school bus to school with regularity? I got two words for that. Oh, yes. Please tell me you do. Do you remember the name of your school bus driver? I got several words. No, I feel really bad that I don't know that you asked, but no, I don't remember the name of my school bus driver. Oh, that's okay. You may have had several. I have a theory that a school bus driver, if you have the same one as one of those, it sticks with you. Even though my dad was my principal, I usually rode to work with dad. But I did ride the school bus some because you want to as a kid, some.

Ruby's dying to ride a school bus, but they don't have one at her school, and it's always sad when she sees them. But I had Mr. Wagnin, was my school bus driver, which is interesting now that I think of it, because before school busses, you might have been taken to school in a wagon. That was That's a pretty good segue, man. It's been a little while. It's true. Until the 1930s, the late '30s, actually the '40s, probably. If you were a rural kid, a rural juror, or the kid of a rural juror, and you wanted to get to school, you very well may have been taken to school in a horse and buggy, essentially, or a farm cart, maybe a truck. Who knows? Whatever could get you to school, that's what you got to school in. Because there there was no federal system or standardization across the United States. There was whatever your school district could think of to get you to school. And even trying to get you to school was a fairly new concept in the early 20th century after industrialization drew everyone to the cities. Because your school was in the city.

That's where most people were. Before that, it was like, good luck getting to school. Now it was like, okay, we really need to get you to school because we have to train you to work in these factories.dumb dumb. Exactly. Thankfully, there was a gentleman, and this is just the perfect short stuff. Why we invented short stuff was because of topics like this, like why are school busses yellow? It's because of a man named Frank Sear, C-Y-R. He was born in a rural area. He was raised on a farm in Nebraska. As he grew up, he got a B in his bonnet to advocate for the education of people in rural areas. He was a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and he started studying school transportation. I'm sure he was like, You know what? I got taken to school in a truck, maybe, or maybe it was even a wagon back then. We got a real hit and miss system going on here. We need to protect kids, keep them safe on the way to school. A good way to start that is nine years later, in 1939, he organized a conference in New York City about improving and standardizing the American school bus.

Yeah, and it was a success. He didn't just get crickets back. He got a lot of people, educators, people who were in charge of transportation for their counties, people who made busses, all showed up in New York City in that 1939 conference, and he said, Okay, let's create these standards. And by the end of this conference, we're going to have come up with standards for school busses throughout the entire United States. And now it's just like, big, big whoop. But if you go back and think about it, especially that this just didn't exist, and he created it out of thin air. It's a pretty cool accomplishment, actually, because he was successful immediately. Yeah, absolutely. That's why when you get on a school bus, you're going to have the same width of the aisle. The seats are going to be basically the same. The doors and the dimensions of this stuff are going to be the same. But what Frank's here is really, really known for is School Bus Yellow, or the official name is National School Bus Glossy Yellow. Pretty great name. I love it. It's a mouthful, but the reason that was part of the standardization, too, was as Frank Sears' son, William, put it, that whenever you saw a bus that color, you'd think, Okay, there's a bunch of kids going somewhere.

You just associated with it. That meant they needed an eye-catching color that wasn't already widely used, that they could associate with school busses, and that's exactly what they came up with. Yeah. As the story goes, Sears was looking at colors in his office, was really drawn to all these colors on the orange spectrum, different kinds of yellows, yellow, greens, stuff like that, because he wanted something that stood out. At that 1939 meeting, he brought 50... Jeez, he narrowed it down to 50 choices. I probably would have brought three, maybe. But he brought 50 Choices, hung them on the wall and said, All right, we need a special committee. We're all going to decide on this. They chose that yellowish-orange color, originally called National School Bus Chrome. That was it. He published a 42-page booklet saying, Here's the standards that we're proposing. That pamphlet was School Bus Yellow. Yeah. I say we take a break, and when we come back, we'll explain why that was such a great color for Sears to pick. Let's do it. Listen up. This February. Oh my God, you're Ellie Conway. I am such a fan. What is it you do?

Espionage. Don't miss the new action adventure, Argyll. I want all assets fixed on them now. Who are these people? Real-life spies. From the Rector of Kingsman. I can't pull off a spy mission. Everything hinges on this. It's time for you to meet the real Agent Argyle. Oh, my God. Argyle in Cinemas Now, Cert 12A. Hey, this is Dana Sports. You may know my voice from Nobleblood, Halewood, or Stealing Superman. I'm hosting a new podcast, and we're calling it Very Special Episodes. A very special episode is stranger than fiction. It sounds like it should be the next season of True Detective, these Canadian cops trying to solve this mystery of who spiked the chowder on the Titanic set. Listen to Very Special Episodes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, and welcome to the Short stuff.

I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and there's Jerry, and the driver's seat, hopping along, bouncing along in our little stuff you should know, school bus.

Two quick questions off the top. Did you ever have to ride a school bus to school with regularity?

I got two words for that. Oh, yes.

And please tell me you do. Do you remember the name of your school bus driver?

I got Several words. No, I feel really bad that I don't know that you asked, but no, I don't remember the name of my school bus driver.

Oh, that's okay. You may have had several. I have a theory that a school bus driver, if you have the same one as one of those, it sticks with you. Even though my dad was my principal, I usually rode to work with dad. But I did ride the school bus some because you want to as a kid, some. Ruby's dying to ride a school bus, but they don't have one at her school, and it's always sad when she I'll tease them. But I had Mr. Wagnin, was my school bus driver, which is interesting now that I think of it, because before school busses, you might have been taken to school in a wagon.

That was a pretty good segue, man. It's been a little while. It's true. Until the 1930s, the late '30s, actually the '40s, probably. If you were a rural kid, a rural juror, or the a kid of a rurgeur and you wanted to get to school, you very well may have been taken to school in a horse and buggy, essentially, or a cart, a farm cart, maybe a truck. Who knows? Whatever could get you to school, that's what you got to school in. Because there was no federal system or standardization across the United States. There was whatever your school district could think of to get you to school. And even trying to get you to school was a fairly new concept in the early early 20th century, after industrialization, drew everyone to the cities. Because your school was in the city. That's where most people were. Before that, it was like, good luck getting to school. Now it was like, okay, we really need to get you to school because we have to train you to work in these factories, dumb dumb.

Exactly. Thankfully, there was a gentleman, and this is just the perfect short stuff. Why we invented short stuff was because of topics like this, like why are school busses yellow? It's because of a man named Frank Sear, C-Y-R. He was born in a rural area. He was raised on a farm in Nebraska. As he grew up, he got a B in his bonnet to advocate for the education of people in rural areas. He was a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and he started studying school transportation. I'm sure he was like, You know what? I got taken to school in a truck, maybe, or maybe it was even a wagon back then. We got a real a hit and miss system going on here. We need to protect kids, keep them safe on the way to school. A good way to start that is nine years later, in 1939, he organized a conference in New York City about improving and standardizing the American school bus.

Yeah, and it was a success. He didn't just get crickets back. He got a lot of people, educators, people who were in charge of transportation for their counties, people who made busses, all showed up in New York City in that 1939 conference, and he said, Okay, let's create these standards. And by the end of this conference, we're going to have come up with standards for school busses throughout the entire United States. And now it's just like big whoop. But if you go back and think about it, especially that this just didn't exist, and he created it out of thin air. It's a pretty cool accomplishment, actually, because he was successful immediately.

Yeah, absolutely. That's why when you get on a school bus, You're going to have the same width of the aisle. The seats are going to be basically the same. The doors and the dimensions of this stuff are going to be the same. But what Frank Sears is really, really known for is School Bus Yellow, or the official name is National School Bus Glossy Yellow.

Pretty great name.

I love it.

It's a mouthful, but the reason that was part of the standardization, too, was as Frank Sears' son, William, put it, that whenever After you saw a bus that color, you'd think, Okay, there's a bunch of kids going somewhere. You just associated with it. That meant they needed an eye-catching color that wasn't already widely used, that they could associate with school busses, and that's exactly what they came up with.

Yeah. As the story goes, Sears was looking at colors in his office, was really drawn to all these colors on the orange spectrum, different kinds of yellows, yellow, greens, stuff like that, because he wanted something that stood out. At that 1939 meeting, he brought 50... Jeez, he narrowed it down to 50 choices. I probably would have brought three, maybe. But he brought 50 choices, hung them on the wall, and said, All right, we need a special committee. We're all going to decide on this. They chose that yellowish-orange color, originally called National School Bus Chrome. That was it. He published It's a 42-page booklet saying, Here's the standards that we're proposing, and that pamphlet was School Bus Yellow. Yeah.

I say we take a break, and when we come back, we'll explain why that was such a great color for Sears to pick. Let's do it. Listen up.

This February Oh my God, you're Ellie Conway. I am such a fan.

What does it you do?

Espionage. Don't miss the new action adventure, Argyll. I want all assets fixed on them now.

Who are these people?

Real-life spies.

From the director of Kingsman. I can't pull off a spy mission. Everything hinges on this. It's time for you to meet the real Agent Argyll. Oh my God. Argyll in Cinemas Now, Cert 12A.

Hey, this is Dana Sports. You You may know my voice from Nobleblood, Haleighwood, or Stealing Superman. I'm hosting a new podcast, and we're calling it Very Special Episodes.

One week, we'll be on the case with special agents from NASA as they crack down on Black Market Moon Rocks.

H.

Ross Perot is on the other side and he goes, Hello, Joe. How can I help you? I said, Mr. Perot, what we need is $5 million to get back a Moon Rock.

Another week, we'll unravel a '90s Hollywood mystery.

It sounds like it should be the next season of True Detective or something. These Canadian cops trying to solve this 25-year-old mystery of who spiked the chowder on the Titanic set. A very special episode is stranger than fiction. It's normal people plopped down in extraordinary circumstances. It's a story where you say, This should be a movie. Listen to very special episodes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Okay, Chuck. Frank Sears and his conference members at that 1939 conference, they came up with 44 Dimensions interventions for the school bus, or 44 standards for the school bus, and one of them was School Bus Glossy Yellow. Frank Sears was not a safety expert. He was not a visual scientist. He was not an ophthalmologist. He He didn't know anything, but he had a good gut for picking out what color would be the best one to pick. And that yellow was a really great color because as this guy who's interviewed Dr. Steven Solomon, he's an optometrist and founder of a company called Visibility and Motion, which is a consulting group. He said that yellows are most easily seen by the human eye, not just for people with normal vision, but even if you have red-green color deficiency, you still see yellow. And he basically said, Frank Sears stumbled upon essentially the perfect safe color.

Yeah, that's awesome. I love it.

The reason why yellow is so visible is because it stimulates both the red and the green cones. We've got red, green, and blue cones, and it just sets two of them aflame. So even if you have red, green color blindness, you can't differentiate red or green. Yellow says, Hey, what about neither? And you can still see yellow.

I love it. So it works for almost everybody. I imagine there's somebody that probably can't see yellow, right?

Yeah, I guess, but they're probably just being contrary.

Yeah, maybe so. Frank Sears passed away in 1995, but obviously was able to see his vision. I imagine every time Frank Sears was out on the road and saw one of those yellow school busses, he probably felt a little warmth in his tum-tums. I know I would. So these days, any school bus in the United States of America that is sold or leased, they have to meet all those federal safety standards and be painted that color. I do think it's funny, and we're going to cover this quickly, and this is something I've always wondered, that they got together. They said, All right, let's get 44 standards, width of stuff, height of stuff. But we're all in agreement. No seatbelts, right? I know.

It's crazy.

I've always wondered about that, but it makes sense when it's explained here. And by the way, big thanks to Dave Rues. This is one of his short articles from howstuffworks. Com. But school busses don't drive super fast. When they are in an accident, it's usually not the thing where there's a very fast stop. They're heavy, they're slow. They don't stop suddenly if there's an accident. I mean, they plow through whatever they're hitting is in reality what happens. So the seat belt, for a kid 15 rows back, plowing through a Prius at 23 miles an hour, that kid's not going to go flying 18 feet through the front windshield.

That kid will just be like, Hey, watch the speed bumps.

Mr. Wagnan. But school busses are very heavily regulated and very safe. They are compartmentalized, so those seats are very closely spaced for that reason. They have energy-absorbing backs for that reason. There's all sorts of rollover protection and crush standards and stuff like that. So school busses are safe. They just don't have seat belts.

Statistically speaking, they're safe, too. Apparently, in the United States, any given weekday, 26 million American kids ride to school on a school bus. I looked up, I had a lot of trouble finding this, but I'm pretty sure what I found was that that's more than 20% of the people on the road in the United States on any given weekday. Wow. And yet it represents less than 1% of all traffic fatalities.

Now, is that rush hour stats?

I don't know. Man, I tried really hard, and I couldn't find anything nuanced like that. I basically had to cobble it together myself. So what I found was that on the road, something like 36% of Americans drive any given day. I took that and figured out how many Americans there are, what's 36% of that, what percentage is 26 million? That number, and that's where I came up with more than 20%.

No, I like it. I think it tracks it. I think that we will definitely hear from someone who thinks they have found a better way to calculate that. But just the eyeball test, when I'm driving Ruby to school in the morning, we see a lot of school busses.

Oh, yeah. They're everywhere. You do not want to get behind one.

No. You do want to stop, though, if that arm goes out because that is a... I don't know if it's true, but I heard that that is the second worst moving violation you can get behind a DUI. I don't know if that's true, but I know it is a hefty fine they don't take rightly.

It seems like it should be. I mean, even if the cops don't get you, there's people who will chase you in their car if they see you do that. It's a really gross violation of social standards.

It is. You don't do that.

No, you're like, I who didn't care about children's lives, is what you're saying. I need to get to Starbucks. I need to get to Cracker Barrel. I need to get somewhere that's more important than a child's life is what you're shouting at everyone.

You know who else didn't care about children's lives? It was that guy who kidnapped that School Bus, Yellow School Bus in Chowchilla.

Yeah.

Buried that thing.

That's right. You got anything else?

No. That's a past episode, Chowchilla School Kidnapping. Look it up. It's great.

Yeah. Hats off to Frank Sears. And hats off to ShortStuff, which is out.

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