School Bus Safety Activities

• Have local law enforcement agencies conduct special patrols to increase compliance with state laws requiring vehicles to stop for school buses loading and unloading students. Be sure to include the media.
  
  
• Work with the PTA and other parent-teacher organizations to encourage parents to walk their children to the school bus. Encourage parents to discuss with their children the route they should use, where they should stand, and how they should behave as they wait for the school bus.
  
  
• Conduct a school assembly to discuss proper behavior on the school bus and how it relates to passenger safety. Include role playing: have the school bus driver play the student role and the student play the school bus driver role.
  
  
• Have each teacher discuss handrail snagging with students. Hold the discussion on a school bus for a hands-on experience. Students should take their book bags to use as props.
  
  
• Check all school buses for defective handrails. Refer to the This Could Save Your Child’s Life brochure. If the handrails are defective, take them out of service until they are fixed.
  
  
• Work with school and community organizations to encourage parents to review school bus safety with their children. They should discuss how to travel safely to and from the school bus stop, the rules of getting on and off the school bus, and proper behavior when riding the school bus.
  
  
• Hold a school bus emergency evacuation drill. Involve the local police, emergency medical service, and rescue agency.
  
  
• Contact your local or state Director of Pupil Transportation to find out what safety programs they sponsor.
  
  
• Sponsor School Bus Driver Appreciation Day.
  
  
• Host Switch Roles Day. Invite school bus drivers to “become” students by attending classes with their passengers. Give students the opportunity to “become” a school bus driver. Let them sit in the driver’s seat, look in the mirrors, and see what the school bus driver sees.
  
  
• Have students draw maps of the routes they walk to the school bus, including where they stand to wait for the school bus. Discuss the safety issues that the maps display (crossing a busy intersection, where to wait for the school bus, etc.)
  
  
• Produce a television or radio news segment on school bus safety using children from the community as reporters.

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