School Bus Safety Tips for Everyone

School Bus Safety Tips for Motorist

• As children throughout Indiana return to school, drivers will notice more school buses on the road.
• State law requires motorists to stop when a school bus is picking up or dropping off children. Watch for school buses with their stop arm extended and red lights flashing which means STOP, not “proceed with caution”
• This law applies to all roadways except those that are divided by a physical barrier or a median.
• On a divided roadway, only vehicles traveling in the same direction as the school bus are required to stop. Extra awareness is also required in rural areas where distracted or impatient drivers often ignore school buses when children are getting on or off the bus.
• Disregarding a school bus stop signal is serious, and you can receive a traffic ticket for doing so.
• Drivers should also be aware of increased pedestrian traffic, particularly around bus stops and schools. Please remember, if your child was boarding a school bus, you would want motorists to use caution and stop.

Bus drivers, students, parents and school personnel all share a responsibility to ensure that children get to and from school safely every day. Here are a few tips that will help you to reinforce the school bus safety message with your child:

• Help your child find the safest route to the bus stop. Review with your child the bus safety rules, stressing why they are necessary.
•  Make sure that your child’s clothing and book bag do not have loose strings or straps that can be caught on the bus handrail, door, or seats.
•  School bus discipline is a cooperative effort among student, parent, bus driver and principal to ensure the safety of all students. Misbehavior on a school bus is highly distracting to a driver and creates an unsafe condition.
•  The bus driver merits the respect and courtesy due all school personnel. Please teach your child to obey the bus driver.
• When your children are very young, accompany them to the bus stop and meet them on their return, if possible.
• If children will be unaccompanied when they get off the bus in the afternoon, teach them the safest route to get home. Stress that they should go directly home, or to their regular after-school location, and check in with you or their other caregiver, before going anywhere else.