The Bus Stops Here

By Ron Hollowell

At the crack of dawn each morning, you hurry your children out the door and point them toward the bus stop. As is the case with most parents, you expect that they will be safely dropped off at school because of seamless procedures put in place by government regulations, the state of Ohio, and your local school district.

Once your children are on the bus, you don’t give a second thought to their safety – after all, you are on a first-name basis with the bus driver and you trust that your children are safe once they board the bus. What could possibly go wrong? The statistics favor your children arriving to and from school each day. Why worry?

Although more than 42,000 people are killed in traffic crashes on U.S. roads every year, school buses are indeed one of the safest forms of transportation in this country, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Every year, nearly 450,000 public school buses travel about 4.3 billion miles to transport 23.5 million children to and from school and school-related activities, NHTSA reports.

As thoroughly as America’s school buses are regulated and inspected, there are plenty of opportunities for errors. On average, according to NHTSA, every year six school-age children nationwide die in school bus crashes as passengers. In Ohio, no elementary, middle or high school student has died in a traffic accident while riding in a school bus since 1966. It’s not possible that your child will be involved in a traffic accident, is it?

Ask the parents whose children were on a runaway school bus that crashed in the Flats of Cleveland last April. The driver of the bus stopped at a gas station to pump about $40 in diesel fuel. Despite leaving the engine running and the door open, he went inside to pay and use the bathroom. The bus suddenly rolled down a hill on Commercial Road. Fortunately, a brave student took control of the bus and steered it away from an oncoming truck and into a bridge abutment. No one was seriously injured and a possible tragedy was averted.

Safety First

NHTSA established the School Bus Safety Program in an effort to reduce school bus-related crashes, injuries and fatalities through both behavioral programs and vehicle regulations. NHTSA works to educate school bus drivers, students and other motorists about safe behavior that reduces the risk of being involved in a school bus-related crash.

Don Stevens, a retired municipal police chief, is familiar with school-bus safety. He cites improvements to buses – such as safety gates – as helping to reduce injuries and fatalities. The safety gate is mounted on the front bumper of the vehicle and includes a barrier both in front of the bumper, and between the bumper and the front wheel of the bus. Both barriers can be dropped from a travel height, in which the bus can travel on the roads, to a lower or guard height in which the barrier is close to the surface of the road so that people – particularly children – cannot go over or beneath the barriers in a location out of the view of the driver.

“On some buses, the gate is wired to either lock the brakes or stall the engine if the gate’s wire is tripped,” Stevens said.

Reflective paint on buses is another safety feature added to vehicles in the past 10 years. The reflective paint is especially helpful on dark mornings during Daylight Savings Time.

Are Seatbelts Necessary?

Many parents wish their children had to buckle up once seated on a bus. Large school buses are heavier and distribute crash forces differently than do passenger cars and light trucks, NHTSA reports. Because of these differences, the crash forces experienced on buses are much less than that experienced by occupants of passenger cars, light trucks or vans.

To quell the notion that seatbelts must be made mandatory on buses, NHTSA decided that the best way to provide crash protection to passengers of large school buses is through a concept called compartmentalization.

“This concept requires that the interior of large buses provide occupant protection such that children are protected without the need to buckle up,” Stevens said. “Through compartmentalization, students are protected in a crash because they are part of a protective envelope that consists of strong, closely-spaced seats that have energy-absorbing seat backs. Significant strides have been made with the padding on the back of each seat, because in the event of an accident, it’s logical to assume that a child will collide with the back of the seat in front of them.”

Small school buses – those with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less – must have lap and/or lap/shoulder belts at all designated seating positions. Since the sizes and weights of small school buses are closer to those of passenger cars and trucks, seatbelts in those vehicles are necessary to provide occupant protection.

“The problem with having seatbelts on the bus is that someone has to monitor their proper use by students,” Stevens said. “Some of the restraints would be very time-consuming for the driver to monitor because he would have to unbuckle his own seatbelt and walk the aisle to visually inspect each child’s restraint. Plus, there is the likelihood that some children will unbuckle the restraint when the driver turns his back and walks back to his seat.”

Educating Parents

In Geauga County, parents of school children, especially those with children entering kindergarten, receive extensive instructions about school-bus safety. Students are expected to be at the bus stop at least five minutes before pick-up time, and they should stand in a designated place of safety. Parents are told that the danger zone of any school bus is the 10-foot radius surrounding the bus. This area is deemed most dangerous because the driver has limited sight.

“This year there is a new rule by which bus drivers must abide,” said Tammy Schreffler, a third-grade teacher at Hambden Elementary School. “They may not drop off a kindergarten student unless they see a parent or guardian waiting for the child. As students get on and off the bus, it’s important that they watch the driver at all times to signal them to cross. They should look both ways, listen for the horn and continue to cross.

“If the horn sounds, the student should look for danger then to the driver for further instructions,” Schreffler added. “When leaving the bus and crossing in front of the bus, the student should stop in the middle of the road and double check for traffic before continuing the rest of the way across the street.”

Parents also are informed to tell their children never to walk behind the bus and never to stop to pick up an object they have dropped near the bus.

As long as parents reinforce with their children the messages that are taught on the bus and in the classroom about school-bus safety, the impending school year should be safe one for all students.