As students start to head back for another year at UW-Eau Claire, there will be some safety changes. The university is getting rid of its 12 and 15 passenger vans that it used to rent to different university groups. That's because it wants to make sure students and staff are safe when they hit the roads.

Staff at UW-Eau Claire are spending the week getting ready for students to start moving in but one of the resources the university used to have for students and staff won't be returning this semester.

“The university decided to get rid of the fleet entirely and go with the state contract which calls for universities to rent from rental car companies,” says Executive Director of Communications
Mike Rindo.

Rindo says one of the biggest concerns for the university was making sure students and staff are safe on the road when they use these vehicles. He says the school has already got rid of the big vans replacing them with safer eight passenger ones.

"There are safety concerns for those types of vans, 12 to 15 passenger vans, because they have a tendency to be top heavy making for an additional roll over risk,” says Rindo.

He says UW-Athletics and some of the science departments were the groups that used the vans the most.

"This will, in most cases, be cost saving for university groups and departments that use the rental vehicles,” says Rindo.

The athletic department says it's good idea to keep an eye on safety but the changes could cause some problems for the teams.

"This is going to be an adjustment for us as we try and secure transportation for our student athletes but at the end of the day we'll get it all done,” says UWEC Athletic Director Scott Kilgallon.

Rindo says students and staff will still have the chance to rent vans through a state rental vehicle contract, that’s primarily through Enterprise here in Eau Claire. He says with that contract it will also cost less to rent those vans.

Rindo says other UW-Schools like Madison, UW-Stout, UW-Green Bay, UW-White Water and UW-Milwaukee also have stopped using the vans.