School buses play an essential role in ensuring the safety of students as they travel to and from school. Transportation supervisor for the Southeast Cornerstone Public School Division, Andy Verhaeghe, says a key part of bus safety comes down to the conduct of students on board. Rules for busing students are posted in every bus.
“We ask that they observe the same conduct as in the classroom, to be courteous. No profanity is permitted. They're asked not to eat or drink on the bus without the driver's permission, to cooperate with the driver, not to be destructive, to stay seated until the bus comes to a complete stop, and to stay in your seat facing forward. Keep all limbs inside the bus, don’t throw items out the windows and the driver is authorized to assign seating.”
Verhaeghe says these rules function to prevent the distraction of the driver and protect students in the event of a collision.
Alongside rules in the bus, evacuation drills are practiced three times throughout the year.
“We hold those in October, January, and April. There's three different evacuation drills they perform, front door evacuation, rear door evacuation, and then a split, where they use both the front and the back doors.”
Verhaeghe notes they’re planning on implementing these drills at all rural and elementary schools for students who do not regularly ride the bus.
“It's nice for charter trips and stuff like that for any kids that don't ride the bus daily. If there was an emergency on a school trip they would know the drill. That's sort of where we're going with the schools and that's separate from the regular bus evacuation drills we do.”
He also reminds other motorists to be mindful when sharing the road with school buses. Drivers should remain alert when commuting, especially in the hours where students are making their way to and from school.
“We've had a lot of issues with people not stopping when our stop signs and loading lights are activated. This is pretty serious as students are either loading or unloading when those safety features are activated.”
When students are getting on and off the bus, they can easily be in a rush or distracted. This can lead to them stepping onto the roadway suddenly where they could be hit by an oncoming vehicle.
“It usually only takes between 30 seconds and a minute for the load or offload to happen. The biggest thing is to be courteous, pay attention.”
Verhaeghe also mentions designated bus zones at schools and the importance of keeping them clear.
“We have those designated so that we can mitigate the risk of somebody being hit. I'd recommend that nobody goes into any of our busing areas especially at drop or load times.”