( CNN ) -- What would you have done ? Last month in Florida , a school bus driver witnessed a vicious assault on a 13-year-old boy . He radioed the bus dispatcher and frantically begged for assistance , as he feared the victim was being seriously injured . But he did not intervene . While the victim 's physical injuries may heal , his psychological trauma will undoubtedly linger , including the harrowing knowledge that no one would help him . Teens trained to spot drama before it turns dangerous . But before we pile on the driver , let 's be clear : The most egregious wrongdoers here are the violent teens . They victimized a boy horribly and wronged the agonized bystanders . The driver 's anguish over his own inaction may be real and palpable , but should he still have done more ? Obviously , he was n't confident enough of his own physical ability to handle several violent teenagers , although he had a special responsibility to protect the children on that bus . We all want to think that we would disregard our own personal safety to help children , but in a highly charged moment , a bystander is forced to make an instant , possibly haunting judgment about risk and danger . Violence works both by crushing a victim and by intimidating others . When you 're not there , it 's easy to dismiss the terror , but for the bystander , it 's often a lose-lose proposition . Fail to intervene , and it haunts you ; intervene , and you may become the victim . Intervention requires bystanders to overcome the basic self-protective instinct that ensures their own survival , and that 's probably why there 's no one we admire more than those who disregard their own personal safety to help others . Teachers ' lesson in heroism and healing . Despite that admiration , and despite our sense as adults that we need to protect children , many of us find that we do not , and can not , intervene as bystanders . To complicate matters , some violent situations can actually be worsened when a bystander intervenes . My own research ( PDF ) at the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University , and similar studies ( PDF ) at the Youth Voice Project at Penn State , have found that bystander interventions in bullying episodes frequently backfire . The bully , feeling publicly humiliated , takes revenge against the original victim . Knowing that you might worsen the victim 's situation only makes these incidents more frustrating . If an adult should n't throw himself in the middle of a physical altercation , what else can he do ? In the Florida situation , there was an immediate danger that required a response but not necessarily significant physical risk . A recent study in the journal Aggressive Behavior found that interveners typically used nonviolent methods . If the school bus company had developed a set of emergency procedures that did n't require high personal jeopardy , perhaps the entire crisis could have been avoided . Bus drivers can be trained in the use of tools and techniques that can help disable violent teens ( e.g. , use of pepper spray ) . Calls to dispatch can be augmented with 911 calls and emergency `` panic '' buttons . No one likes to consider that such preparations are necessary , and they will cost money , but by thinking ahead and preparing for such scenarios , we might be able to avoid a situation where the choice is simply who will end up with the broken bones . Interrupting the cycle of teen violence . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Elizabeth Englander .
Florida school bus driver did not help when teen was beaten on bus . Elizabeth Englander says before criticizing , place blame on assailants ; driver in terrible spot . Studies show intervening can backfire ; people need alternative to assuming risk , she says . Englander : " The problem is that we have a culture of blaming the victim and saying they are at fault for what happened.