HARRISBURG- School bus safety is a high priority in Pennsylvania, and it’s important for students, parents, teachers, administrators, transportation personnel, and the motoring public to work together to keep children safe while on or around the school bus. Motorists must stop at least 10 feet away from school buses that have their red lights flashing and stop arm extended. Pennsylvania law prohibits any items, including students, from barricading the aisles and the emergency exit. It’s important to provide adequate instruction so that every student is familiar with school bus emergency procedures and equipment use, as well as the safe loading and unloading procedures.
Here are 5 safety tips from safekids.org to keep Pennsylvanians safe.
- Teach kids to stand at least three giant steps back from the curb as the bus approaches and board the bus one at a time.
- Teach kids to wait for the school bus to come to a complete stop before getting off and not to walk behind the bus.
- If your child needs to cross the street after exiting the bus, he or she should take five giant steps in front of the bus, make eye contact with the bus driver and cross when the driver indicates it’s safe. Teach kids to look left, right and left again before crossing the street.
- Instruct younger kids to use handrails when boarding or exiting the bus. Be careful of straps or drawstrings that could get caught in the door. If your child drops something, they should tell the bus driver and make sure the bus driver is able to see them before they pick it up.
- Slow down and stop if you’re driving near a school bus that is flashing yellow or red lights. This means the bus is either preparing to stop (yellow) or already stopped (red), and children are getting on or off.
