How safe is your child’s school bus?

By Evans Ongwae

The school bus is considered the most preferred option for children commuting daily to and from school. By design, they are required to transport children securely, decently, efficiently, and even economically given the number of trips and distances many of them cover.

To parents and guardians who are busy, the school bus option offers a huge relief. Their major task in the morning is to prepare children for school. Once the school bus arrives and picks up the learners, parents/guardians can dash to their daily hustles, confident that the children will arrive safely in school and will be brought back home in the evening without incident.

This is as convenient as it gets. And because parents and guardians want the best education for their children, many of them don’t hesitate to choose schools that may be rather far from where the family lives. They don’t mind if the children have to use school transport daily. Of importance is safety and convenience.

How safe is the school bus your child rides daily? How much safer can it be made to be?

School transport can be made much safer by paying attention to a few pertinent matters. For example, fleet managers should ensure regular mechanical check-ups on the vehicles. How many schools carry out such checks, and how frequently?

May be it is also necessary for schools to make it possible to track the location of the buses in real time. Schools should further consider whether on-board cameras are needed.

Another question to ask is: Should a school bus change route without the approval of a supervisor? Also, is basic first aid equipment available in your school bus, and is there a trained personnel to administer them when need be? Are all school bus drivers trained on how to speak with children, and with parents or guardians?

Before a driver returns the bus back to school, it is necessary to confirm whether all children have alighted. Is it possible that one of them dozed off and didn’t alight at their usual drop-off point? Every child should be accounted for.

Many people are involved in the school transport, with the key actors being children and the bus or van driver. However, the safety of children is also dependent on others’ awareness of what safety entails. That group includes parents or guardians, teachers, and school administrators.

Children of different ages may have a differing understanding of traffic safety and how they are supposed to behave on the trip to and from school.

A four-year old will rely more on the driver, parents and other assistants. That contrasts with a 13-year old, who has a deeper understanding of what safety entails. This group could be more aware of how they should conduct themselves, and what activities they can or cannot engage in when waiting for, stepping onto, and sitting in the bus. An understanding of proper bus etiquette from boarding to travelling and alighting, also helps improve safety.

Various makers and dealers in buses and vans that are custom-made for school transport keep making adjustments to improve safety, efficiency, and convenience for users. Read about some of them and their latest makes in a special feature here.

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