Learning Better School Bus Safety

Cultural Calendar
Safety

October 25, 2024

National School Bus Safety Week is October 21–25 and provides an important opportunity to address and promote the importance of school bus safety while also educating on better safety practices.

As the direct link between home and school, school bus transportation plays a critical role in the education of our nation’s students. More than 25 million children ride the bus every school day, and National School Bus Safety Week serves as a reminder for students, parents, teachers, and their community to keep school bus safety top of mind. Following are some helpful tips from the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) to keep children safer at the bus stop:

Encourage children to wear bright, contrasting colors so they’re more visible to drivers.
Make sure children arrive at the bus stop before it is due, ideally at least five minutes early. Teach children the dangers of running after or in front of a bus.
There’s safety in numbers — walk young children to the bus stop or encourage kids to walk in groups (which are easier for drivers to see).
Practice good pedestrian behavior — walk on the sidewalk, and stay out of the street.
If you do have to walk in the street, walk single file, face traffic and stay as close to the edge of the road as possible.
At the Bus Stop, have children wait in a location where the driver can see them clearly as they come down the street.
Do not let children play in the street.
Warn children that if they drop something getting on or off the bus, they should never pick it up. Instead, they should notify the driver and follow the driver’s instructions.
Remind children to look to the right before they step off the bus.
If you meet your child at the bus stop after school, wait on the side of the road where the child will be dropped off, not across the street. Otherwise, children can be so excited to see you after school that they dash across the street, forgetting safety rules, and endangering themselves.

For more information, visit https://www.napt.org/nsbsw.

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