“There was no signal, there was no real procedure other than the bus driver would use the lights and the traffic was supposed to obey it.” With a uniform procedure now in place in Utah, he said bus drivers are responsible for teaching the students about safe crossing and the hand signals. A pamphlet goes home to parents and students that teaches safe loading and unloading, but more training is needed. “We have found that it’s not enough to teach it, you have to reinforce it,” he said. “It’s an everyday reminder what the driver has to do. It’s not just a one-time [thing] that we put all the kids through it, and then they’re done. Our experience is, that if you don’t remind kids they forget, they get distracted.” He said the drivers reinforce the


behavior every time they’re picking up and dropping off students. Delegates at the 2015 National


Congress on School Transportation re- affirmed this practice. The bus driver’s responsibly is to ensure that the stu- dents follow each step of safe crossing procedures. The School Bus Operations section of the National School Bus Specifications and Procedures provides a diagram on how to cross the road safely, and students must wait for the driver’s signal to cross. NCST will meet again next year. Meanwhile, Knox County Schools in


Ensuring Driver’s Following Procedures


After teaching bus drivers proper


84% of transportation directors/supervisors stated that they use LED lights on their school buses.


(Out of 129 responses.)


24% of transportation directors/supervisors stated that they have implemented technology to help with Danger Zone safety.


(Out of 128 responses.)


What Danger Zone technology has your operations implemented?


53% Crossing gate


47% Danger zone surveillance system 37% Additional lighting 23% Extended stop-arms


10% Pedestrian crossing sensors 10% Predictive stop-arm


Tennessee contracts out it’s bus service to 58 different contractors. However, Ryan Dillingham, the transportation director, shared that he writes into each contract the same training requirements. The school district provides all training. Knox County Schools requires drivers to activate the


(Out of 30 responses. Total does not equal 100. Multiple answers allowed.)


loading and unloading procedures, how do transportation directors en- sure compliance? Coughlin said this is where retraining is important. He added that it’s up to the transporta- tion director or designated staff to do spot checks. He said when he was a fleet manager for Minneapolis Public Schools, he would use his private vehi- cle and observe certain bus stops and if drivers were following protocol. He added that another way to ensure


compliance is to do periodic ride- alongs with the bus drivers. “Are they activating the eight-way lights at the appropriate spot? Are they putting the bus in park? Are they communicating with the students? Are they paying attention to the traffic conditions?” he asked. While training can be expensive,


Coughlin said there is a cost to cutting corners. “I’ve worked on a number of lawsuits, and the districts aways find the money when they actually get sued. …The training is money well spent. Plus, you don’t have the pain and suffering because of a fatality or serious injury,” he said. Reese in Utah said one way to en-


sure compliance is via video reviews. He said he has a monthly process of pulling bus video from all 155 school buses. Driver trainers are responsible for watching the footage to ensure that proper loading and unloading is hap-


yellow warning lights about 200 feet from the bus stop, but Dillingham agreed it can be hard to judge that dis- tance. He said bus drivers receive examples of what 200 feet looks like, and they are encouraged to use land- marks such as a mailbox to know when to turn on the warning lights. He also tells drivers their “homework” is to drive the


route in their personal vehicles, so they determine some of the landmarks themselves. This ensures that they know the route, and reenforces that it will be driven as safely as possible. “We want them to be as prepared as they can when they sit down behind the wheel,” he said.


46 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2024


pening, as well as watching driver habits and ensuring that students are staying seated. He said the trainers can see where there are shortfalls and correct them before kids get hurt. “We’re finding things that we can help with, help driv- ers and students be safe and successful. We just started that this year, and it’s been a good thing,” he continued. “But of course, we have people who run the red lights ev- ery day, just like every district does. It’s a continual battle, [so we] mainly focus on training each of our bus drivers.” The buses have dash cameras installed to capture


license plate numbers of motorists who illegally pass. Reese added that the districts also produced a train-


ing video with test questions that drivers are required to complete annually. Because transportation is responsible for over 690 routes and 8,000 bus stops, he said right-side


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