10 School Bus Driver Tips for Keeping Kids Safe

EDITORS NOTE: Advanced Career Institute has discontinued our School Bus Driving Program. We still offer our Commercial Bus Driver Program at select campuses.

Kids are a family’s dearest treasure. When we send them off to school, we are entrusting them to a system we expect will keep them safe. For this reason, school buses are the most regulated vehicles on the road. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), students are 70 times more likely to get to school safely on a school bus than in a car. As a professional school bus driver, here are some safety tips to consider:

1. When picking up or dropping off kids, make sure children are away from the bus before moving and especially if reversing.
2. Be cautious of kids in neighborhoods. This is especially true if the streets have no sidewalks or are lined with trees and bushes.
3. Look for kids running up to the bus when they are late. They might run out unexpectedly and not be aware of traffic.
4. When picking up or dropping off, stop for a few seconds and keep the door closed until other vehicles have come to a stop.
5. School bus seats are designed to protect the passenger when seated properly. Ensure kids are seated when the bus is in motion.
6. Make sure children are not reaching out of or dangling anything from the windows.
7. Let children know not to rush back to the bus if they forgot something. This might cause them to dart into the street. You can always turn in any found objects to the school office.
9. Make sure all children that need to have crossed the street completely before retracting the crossing arm.
11. Always instruct kids to be silent when driving through a railroad crossing so as to be able to hear train warnings.
13. Always put safety ahead of schedule requirements.

These are mostly common sense suggestions that you should keep in mind. They are in addition to specific regulations you learned for your Class B CDL test. If you would like to learn more about becoming a Professional School Bus Driver and bus driver training, contact Advanced Career Institute for details.