Getting in the school bus - Know the rules December 23, 2009

It seems all too simple. The easily-recognizable school bus arrives at the scheduled stop and your child simply boards it. So what is there to ‘teach’ a child about getting in his usual transport? Yet, you may not be aware of it, getting in and off the school bus happens to be the most dangerous part of his school bus ride!

According to published figures from the Kansas Department of Transportation and other federal sources, student fatalities and injuries in the loading and unloading zone continue to occur. In 2005-06, there were 13 fatality accidents involving K-12 school children in while they were getting in an off their school bus or transit bus. Of the 13 fatalities, 7 occurred behind the bus and 6 were killed by a passing motorist. Pedestrian fatalities (while loading and unloading school buses) account for approximately three times as many school bus-related fatalities, when compared to school bus occupant fatalities.

Given these figures, it is perhaps time for you to know about some facts and safety measures that you need to teach your child when he boards his school bus every morning.

·        There is an area, appropriately called the ‘danger zone’, which is the loading and unloading area. This area is located on all sides of the bus where children are mostly invisible to the driver (ten feet in front of the bus where the driver may be too high to see a child, ten feet on either side of the bus where a child may be in the driver’s blind spot, and the area behind the school bus).

·        Given the fact that children are most vulnerable at the loading and unloading area of a school bus, there has been some mandated and voluntary design changes in school buses especially related to safety equipment. For example, federal mandates require all new buses to be equipped with an 8-lamp warning system and stop signal arm.

·        Even with such safety measures in place, accidents continue and there seems no respite from children fatalities related to loading and unloading school buses.

With this backdrop, to ensure child safety during getting in and off school buses, the School Transportation Section of the National Safety Council recommends that both driver and pupil training in proper loading and unloading procedures must be improved. While each State may have their unique situations related to their locales and conditions, there are some rules which ought to be taught to children using school buses. Here are some rules of getting on the bus:

·        While waiting for the school bus, the child should stay away from traffic and avoid unruly behavior.

·        The child should be prevented from straying on to the roads, alleys or private property.

·        As the bus approaches, form a queue (if there are other children) away from the road.

·        The child should wait till the bus has stopped completely before attempting to board it.

·        When boarding the bus, the child should use handrails.

The above rules are simple but can go a long away in instilling disciplined behavior in your child when boarding his school bus.

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