Helping a young child climb onto their school bus every morning can make you feel like the best parent in the world. Letting them ride the bus is a way of teaching them independence and giving them time to make friends before school. Although, I wonder, are we also keeping them safe by letting them ride the bus? School bus safety has become a pressing concern. Here are a few reasons why I think other parents should feel the same way.
Why We Assume School Buses Are Safe
People assume school buses are safe because they’re a mammoth of a vehicle. I know that’s the way I’ve felt my whole life. Standard cars aren’t likely going to topple a school bus due to their size, but that doesn’t necessarily mean school buses are safe.
It’s true that kids get injured in school bus incidents far less often than in family vehicles. In 2021, 3,900 children were injured in school bus accidents. Compare that to the 4.3 million injuries in non-work-vehicle accidents per year, and school buses look incredibly safe. Unfortunately, they don’t even need to get into accidents for the kids inside to get hurt.
My Top School Bus Safety Concerns
When I talk with other parents about school bus safety issues, these are my top concerns. Learning more about them makes the problems easier to tackle.
The Lack of Seat Belts for Our Kids
The average school bus seats up to 72 kids at one time. When was the last time any of us saw a single seat belt on any of those children? The law says only buses weighing less than 10,000 pounds must have seat belts because they’ll experience more force in a crash. Little kids can still slide off during jolts or accidents.
Cars Not Stopping for Buses
Knowing when to stop for a school bus isn’t as easy as you might think. The most recent data shows that 95,319 cars passed stopped school buses during the 2018-2019 school year. States have different laws about this, which complicates matters for everyone. Some states require that cars stop while traveling in any direction. Others just require vehicles to stop while traveling in the same direction.
Driver’s education classes teaching different curriculums and a general lack of paying attention on the road also lead to accidents. Speeding by a stopped bus is easier than many of us assume.
Insufficient Heating and Air Conditioning
Experts say that most school buses don’t have ventilation systems. Students rely on opening windows for air movement and don’t have heating during the winter. That will only get more dangerous as extreme weather systems become more common over the coming decades.
Ways Parents Can Make School Buses Safer
We don’t have to wait for other people to start raising awareness of school bus safety concerns. Here’s how we can get other parents involved in protecting our kids on the road.
1. We Can Advocate at Local Board Meetings
Each county’s board of education makes policies regarding school buses, although it’s good to double-check the powers of the county and state boards of education where you live. Plan on attending public hearings to advocate for new buses with heating and air conditioning, seat belts, bigger stop signs and anything else that will protect your kids. If more parents do the same, we’ll make enough noise for representatives to prioritize school bus safety.
2. We Could Wait for the Bus Earlier
If the bus driver sees you and your child waiting at the end of your driveway, they start slowing down sooner. The simple act prevents the kids inside from experiencing a sudden stop and gives cars in the oncoming lane more time to see the bus’s warning lights flashing. Sitting outside with our kids just a minute or two earlier than usual makes a big difference in everyone’s safety on the street.
3. We Can Wait Where the Bus Door Opens
School bus drivers have to perform maintenance checks that include making sure their stop sign swings out and their exterior warning lights work. Drivers need to know when to stop for a school bus, but it’s our job to make the bus as safe as possible for our kids. Wait on the side of the road where the door opens so that they never cross any lanes of traffic, just in case someone doesn’t stop in time.
4. We Can Give Our Kids Temperature Regulation Tools
Give your kids a hand-held, battery-powered fan that blows air on their faces whenever they’re too warm on the bus. Mention how they could show their seatmate some empathy by sharing it with the person sitting next to them. When it gets cold, give them hand warmers that fit inside their tiny gloves. Temperature regulation tools are the best we can do to keep our kids comfortable on school buses for now.
5. We Could Teach Road Safety Tips in Our Cars
School buses are safer when kids know how to behave on them. We can’t expect the drivers to both pay attention to the road and manage just under 100 kids on their bus. I’ve taught my son not to scream or yell while we’re in our car and reinforced that he should behave the same way on the school bus. The smallest things can make the biggest differences for bus drivers, especially the noise reverberating in their metal buses.
Let’s Make the World Better for Our Kids
I’ll never unsee the school bus safety concerns that I’ve spotted. I hope other parents don’t either. We can all contribute to our children’s safety on the road. Whether we’re showing them how to behave in their seats, waiting with them by the road or advocating at educational board meetings, parents have the power to transform our kids’ experiences on school buses.