School Bus Safety

How safe is it for children to ride school buses? My middle-school kids will have to ride the bus to their new school. -- Safety Conscious
Answer: Riding a school bus is one of the safest forms of transportation. The most dangerous part of your children's ride is actually getting on and off the bus. Even though your children are older, they need to be taught a few rules. The most important is to stay out of the bus "danger zone." This is the 10-foot wide area on all sides of the bus where the driver might not be able to see them. It can be described to younger children as staying five giant steps away from the bus. All bus riders should only enter the "danger zone" when the bus is stopped to get on or off or to cross in front of it to get to the other side of the street. Another very important rule that your children need to know is to never try to retrieve anything that falls under or near the bus. Instead, they should tell the driver.
After your children enter the bus, advise them to find a seat quickly and sit quietly in the seat to avoid distracting the driver. And, of course, they should not stick their hands or heads through the windows or throw objects from the bus. Your older children also need to be told that misbehaving on the bus could lead to their not being able to ride the bus.
One trouble spot for bus riders is the actual bus stop, where children might engage in horseplay or jostle each other to be first on the bus. If this should be a problem in your neighborhood, parents can take turns monitoring the stop. Also, children can decide who will be first each day by boarding according to some rule that they will follow. For example, they could rotate their places in the line to board the bus each week by alphabetical order or by drawing cards on the first day of the school year.