With the recently recognized National School Bus Safety Week, now is a great time to remind everyone of what exactly school bus safety entails.
Since 2016, the state of Ohio has had 6,524 crashes that involved school buses. 2,097 people were injured during that time period, and eight of those crashes were fatal. Unfortunately, Lucas County is among the top four leading counties for school bus crashes in Ohio. With 346 crashes since 2016, Lucas County falls behind only three other counties: Franklin, Hamilton, and Cuyahoga. To decrease these crash numbers, and to make sure our children are getting to and from school safely, it is important to review the laws for driving near buses and school zones.
Sergeant Brice A. Nihiser, public information officer for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, spoke recently on the subject. He discussed some of the important driving rules to remember when approaching a bus.
Sergeant Nihiser explained, “If you’re approaching a school bus that is stopped, understand that there are going to be kids getting on the bus, or they may be getting off the bus. If that stop sign is extended, and that stop arm is also extended, you need to stay at least 10 feet in front of or behind that school bus, and that’s to keep those kids safe.”
As of 2016, Ohio State Highway Patrol has issued 16,720 citations for vehicles either passing school buses or committing driving violations in school zones.
Sergeant Nihiser also addressed the school zone policy. The lower speed limit around schools is typically 20 miles per hour, which should be observed whenever the school zone warning lights are flashing. The lights could be flashing before school, after school, and even on weekends or evenings when a school event is occurring.
In addition to ensuring that drivers are being safe around school buses and school zones, the Ohio State Highway Patrol also plays a part in keeping school buses safe by conducting regular school bus inspections twice a year. 185,000 school bus inspections have been completed since 2017. Each bus is inspected at the start of the school year, and they are also given a random inspection at some point during the year. This is to absolutely verify that the buses are running correctly and safely.
Tips for drivers
- When the school bus stop sign is extended, stay at least 10 feet away.
- Never pass a school bus with flashing lights.
- When the school zone lights are flashing, observe the speed limit, which is typically 20-miles-per-hour.
- For two-lane roads, you must stop for a school bus, even if you are traveling the other direction.
- For four-or-more-lane roads and divided highways, only the traffic traveling the same direction as the school bus must stop when the bus lights are flashing.
Tips for students
The National Association for Pupil Transportation, NAPT, also recently shared some reminders to help keep our youth safe when riding the bus.
- Kids should wear bright colors so they’re easier to spot, especially now that it’s getting darker earlier and staying darker later.
- Make sure children getting on the bus have all their items, including phones, secured in their backpack. This helps avoid the problem of children dropping items on the way to the bus and then running back to try and collect those items.
- Phones should be put away so that the children are paying attention to their surroundings when approaching the bus.
- If a child is wearing earbuds, the earbuds should be muted so that approaching cars can be heard.
- Children should arrive at their bus stop five minutes early. This ensures that they do not miss the bus and feel the need to chase it down..
Following bus safety rules is a very simple yet important task, and by doing so you can help keep the children in our community safe. For additional tips on bus safety, please visit NAPT’s Bus Stop Safety Tips.
