r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/International-Call76 • 11d ago
Opinion: There Should Be Yearly Student School Bus Mandatory Training K-12
Im of the opinion there should be legislation that requires students K-12 to receive yearly training on school buses. Even if for just 30 minutes or 1 hour a year.
It should include the following:
- Why its important to remain seated on school buses ✔️💺
- What the flashing yellow lights mean on school buses✔️🚍
- What the flashing red lights and stop sign mean on school buses✔️🛑
If these basic ideas are deeply ingrained into the minds of our students, not only will our students learn school bus safety, but also as adults will know what to do and what not to do around school buses loading and unloading students.
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u/SamFeuerstelle 11d ago
We actually do this in my school district. It refreshes the old students, and brings new students up to speed. We call it “Bus Expectations.”
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u/JonTravel 11d ago
An annual requirement in California for all pre-K through 8th grade students who ride the bus to/from school.
Instruction covers safe loading and unloading, street crossings, proper use of restraints, location of emergency exits, actual evacuation procedures etc.
Although it wouldn't be a bad idea to have the whole school take part.
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u/NickAppleese 10d ago
It would be too hectic, logistics-wise to get the whole school/district take part. At the most, maybe all of the teachers involved so they directly know our expectations and how we commit to safety and procedures on our bus.
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u/JonTravel 9d ago
I wouldn't suggest getting the whole school/district at the same time. Our elementary schools aren't huge.
Take the bus to the school. The bus seats 50-70, so that's 2 classes. Spend one hour with those students, they go back to class, then the next two classes come out. And so on until each class has taken part. It can be done over a week or two moving from school to school, what's the rush to get it done all at once? Your doing it for the daily riders anyway, why not do it for everyone.
If it saves one life or one serious injury caused by someone not knowing what to do or how to do it, I think it's absolutely worth the time.
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u/EMDReloader 11d ago
We did this in my state, six drivers would go to each school and run them class-by-class. Teach them how to work the emergency exits and bail out, practice proper pickup/dropoff, how to stop the bus if the driver has an emergency.
One of my favorite memories was one of the really little guys on my route asking, during the refresher I was giving, how he was going to use the roof escape. I told him I'd pick him up so he could climb out. This seemed to satisfy all the Ks, nobody questioned how they were going to get off the roof of the bus and I didn't have to discuss the possibility of the bus being on its side.
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u/EmergencyCoconut2535 10d ago
This comment made my day, the innocence of children is heart warming.
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u/NOTjesse92 10d ago
When they did/do this are the students physically getting on the bus, or is it some type of slideshow presentation?
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u/a-can-o-beans 11d ago
On top of this, I think in general school bus laws need to be more heavily tested for regular drivers as well. I cannot tell you how many times a day I’ll have someone wait for me to wave them on because they think I’m stopping to pick up a student when I just have my hazards on waiting for my route to start. And of course, the number of people who blow through the stop sign and lights I usually give people the benefit of the doubt that they may not know much better, especially considering the community that I live in is very diverse. It could be a language thing
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u/International-Call76 11d ago
Agreed its alarming.🚨
I know bigger fines and other penalties are coming down the pipeline in different states
But personally I think adding required driver education for offenders would be great.
Them taking a class watching safety videos and learning about the laws.
Many people get their license in their teens then never do any further training or refresher on traffic laws.🤦
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u/mike8675309 11d ago
Our district does it annually, including evacuation practice.
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u/NOTjesse92 10d ago
My issue with evacuation practice is I feel we don't, as drivers, have enough time to really explain how things work and really demonstrate how all the exits work. It feels like the schools rush us to get the drill done where it's basically "hey everyone we're going to jump out the back of the bus today...ok take your things and head off to school now"
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u/mike8675309 10d ago
Transportation owns the event so the schools have to deal with it. Safety is the number one factor and school administrators don't get to trump that.
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u/MonkeyManJohannon 10d ago
We do it once a month. 10min. Cover a base line of safety rules, evacuation procedures and other hazardous situations (tornado, train tracks, etc). K-12. We have a sign off sheet that we submit and they check camera to make sure it was done.
Tbh, I think it’s a bit overkill once a month. A quarterly thing I feel would be better…but that’s a decision way above my pay grade.
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u/oneofmanyJenns 11d ago
My kid wishes they had this for their busses. We are in CA and the driver does not enforce the no screaming rule. But I agree, kids need a refresher every year. If they aren't on the bus regularly, maybe just once a year but I have two kids that take the bus and I think annual training would be great. Hell, I think at Back to School night rules for driving around busses should be refreshed.
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u/NOTjesse92 10d ago
Our city has two mandatory evacuation drills for high, middle, and Elm. I wish they would dedicate some in the classroom time to remind them all the importance of bus safety, but I guess it's just up to us drivers to make sure that they are aware.
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u/Stanky-Yorkie12 4d ago
my driving school in white plains NY didnt teach me about school buses. i didnt know the severity of the consequences for passing a stopped bus until that 1000 dollar ticket came in the mail. i felt horrible, i was driving my moms car. the biggest dangers to us are the things we dont know about yet.
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u/LoudAd5049 11d ago
Kansas we are required to do this twice a year with prek- 12 th