10 feet back from the bus and board the bus in single file line. If a student must cross the street, he said, they need to wait until the bus arrives and stops (per district policy). Then, the driver needs to check and double check traffic to make sure it’s safe to relay a hand signal to the students that it’s safe to cross. Coughlin advised us- ing an easily identifiable hand signal, like a thumbs up, that a student can look for. He explained that a school bus
driver must always be in charge at stops, instructing when the child should and should not cross. And that needs to be communicated to the parents. If something happens to that child, it’s the school bus driver and the district or contractor that will be held responsible. “I also say that we should teach kids
when they cross the street to look left, right, and then left [again] as a double check for the bus driver,” he shared, adding that the driver could be distracted by something happening inside the bus and the students need to be responsible, to a degree, for their own safety as well. Coughlin said school bus safety training of students should start at the beginning of the school year, perhaps via an assembly in the gymnasium or a parking lot, especially address- ing where the students need to walk during the loading and unloading procedure. “We want to teach the students that
we share responsibility for their safety,” he said, adding that training is an inex- pensive way to save student’s lives.
Training Drivers Coughlin noted that states vary on
driver training requirements, though most require a two-hour per year re- fresher course. For those states that do not mandate the required agenda for a refresher training, he cautioned not using that time to teach simple topics such as “how to fill out timecards or other non-bus related items.” “I highly recommend that the school districts and contractors have a month-
44 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2024
How far from the school bus stop are your drivers trained to activate yellow warning lights?
52% 200 feet 32% 300 feet 8% Less than 200 feet 7% More than 300 feet
1% Measured by seconds away from stop
(Out of 130 responses to a recent STN magazine reader survey.)
75% of transportation directors/supervisors said their routes now eliminate the need for students to cross streets to bus stops.
(Out of 133 responses.)
How often do you teach safe loading and unloading practices to students?
42% Once a year
34% More than once a year
19% Other (up to the drivers, remind students daily, two times a year, monthly, when schools allow it, several times a year, whenever it becomes an issue, etc.)
5% To new students only (Out of 131 responses.)
ly safety meeting,” he continued. “Then I suggest you rotate through topics, such as backing up, the safety zone, pre tripping your bus, following dis- tance, student management—there’s a number of items that you can cover during a 30-to-45-minute training session. It serves as refresher and a reminder for everybody.” While he said school districts could
likely offer two years’ worth of re- fresher training without covering the same topic twice, he added that bus stop safety and loading and unloading should be taught at least once a year. Additionally, he said, departments
can record the sessions. If a driver is out of town or on a field trip, it ensures everyone is receiving the content. He advised, having drivers sign off on either watching the recording or attending in person. “It doesn’t matter what kind of training [you] did. If you don’t doc- ument it, you can’t prove drivers attended it,” he added. Wayne Reese, a transportation and
logistics administrator for Cache County and Logan School Districts in Utah, said loading and unloading training available has greatly improved since he started in the industry 38 years ago. He said he was a part of a committee that developed a uniformed procedure for the state of Utah, which consists of activating the yellow lights 100 to 500 feet before the bus stop. Once the bus is stopped, he said
students waiting for the bus need to stand 15 feet back from the curb and line up prior to loading. The driver will then activate the red lights and stick out their hand to communicate to the students to stop and await a signal to cross. After the driver ensures the area is safe, they will give the uniform hand signal to let the students know it’s safe to cross. He said students are supposed to stop in the middle of the road and await another signal to ensure it’s safe to keep going. Reese recalled when there was no
procedure for crossing kids. “You had the lights on the bus, but there was no uniform standard,” he recalled.
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