Enhanced lighting on school buses to make the vehicles stand out even more on roads and highways is in demand from student transporters. PHOTO COURTESY OF FIRST LIGHT SAFETY PRODUCTS


Now You See Me


Written By ERIC WOOLSON I


t’s a mantra that student transportation professionals can recite in their sleep: the yellow school bus is the safest, most visible vehicle on the road. That’s not stopping industry professionals from working to make buses safer and more visible, particularly when it comes to reducing illegal-passing incidents and


their potentially lethal consequences. On the visibility front, First Light Safety Products in Winnipeg, Manitoba is tout- ing early study results on lighted “SCHOOL BUS” signs and fully illuminated stop arms released last June. Meanwhile, more effective identification and prosecution of illegal passers has been the focus of BusPatrol, headquartered in Lorton, Virgin- ia. The firm’s not alone, of course, as competitors and various official entities take different paths to achieve similar outcomes. Some communities have reconfigured street designs to slow traffic and make


boarding and deboarding safer. Other districts have eliminated the practice of crossing students and only make stops on the same side of the street as where they live. California requires drivers to “escort all students in prekindergarten, kindergarten or any grades one through eighth, who need to cross the highway or


36 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2023


Parallel efforts underway to make yellow buses more visible and crack down on illegal passers at student stops


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