It has been over a year since Senator Felder passed legislation that provides school buses to yeshivah children in kindergarten through 6th grade, who remain in school after 4 pm. More students are taking school buses than ever before. Therefore, it’s important to discuss school bus safety with your children. Here are some good rules for them to follow.
Clothing
Children should wear brightly colored clothing, especially if getting home after dark. Place removable reflective tape on their outer garments including their hats, coats and backpacks.
Boarding
Teach your children to only move forward to board the school bus when it has come to a complete stop and the driver opens the door. Children should line up single file as they wait to board.
Seating
Most school buses do not come equipped with seatbelts, nor are seats strong enough to resist impact in the event of a crash. Teach your children to be seated at all times and facing forward. Sadly, it’s not uncommon to see school buses with children standing in the aisles and kneeling on the seats talking to the kids behind them. This is incredibly dangerous. Please make that crystal clear to your children.
Exiting
When exiting the bus, children must move far away from the vehicle to allow the driver to see that they have cleared the bus and are safely away from traffic. Instruct your children to stay away from the bus’ rear wheels at all times.
Awareness
Teach your children to be aware of all traffic in the area. Do not assume that drivers will stop for them or even see them. If children must cross the street, they are to do so only with the bus driver directing them. Have them look both ways until they are safely on the other side.
Every year children are injured in school bus related accidents as a result of a collision or because they fail to clear the area around the bus or are hit by oncoming traffic.
You can keep your children safe by raising their awareness of potential hazards. The rest of us can make school bus safety a priority by obeying the rules of the road. Do not pass buses with their stop signs out and do not honk at cars waiting for school buses. Everyone is in a rush, but there are children’s lives at stake. Councilman David Greenfield said, “If you’re willing to cut off a school bus while a school bus is picking up a child, you’re literally one of the worst drivers in New York City,”
Let’s make this school year a safe one
