School Bus Safety Week: Getting to Know the Folks Behind the Wheel (VIDEO)

This week is National School Bus Safety Week.

In the early 1990’s, the National Association for Pupil Transportation, the National School Transportation Association and the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services joined forces to form the National School Bus Safety Week Committee and coordinate School Bus Safety Week activities throughout the country.

Rick Stimmel, area transportation supervisor for Carroll County Public Schools said that there are about 302 public school buses on the road in Carroll County every day.

One of the biggest problems bus drivers face today, Stimmel said, is motorists who fail to stop at the bus' flashing red lights because they are using their cell phones while driving.

Obviously school bus safety is a responsibility of the bus drivers. But the kids riding the buses, the parents and other drivers on the road also shoulder the burden of keeping kids safe around buses.

Things parents should know about school bus safety according to the National School Bus Safety Week Committee:

• School buses are the safest form of highway transportation.
• The most dangerous part of the school bus ride is getting on and off the bus.
• Pedestrian fatalities (while loading and unloading school buses) account for approximately three times as many school bus-related fatalities, when compared to school bus occupant fatalities.
• The loading and unloading area is called the “Danger Zone”
• The “Danger Zone” is the area on all sides of the bus where children are in the most danger of not being seen by the driver (ten feet in front of the bus where the driver may be too high to see a child, ten feet on either side of the bus where a child may be in the driver’s blind spot, and the area behind the bus).
• Half of the pedestrian fatalities in school bus-related crashes are children between 5 and 7 years old.
• Young children are most likely to be struck because they: Hurry to get on and off the bus, act before they think and have little experience with traffic, assume motorists will see them and will wait for them to cross the street, don’t always stay within the bus driver’s sight.

Take some time today to remind your kids about safety around school buses and be sure to take a minute to thank the bus drivers who keep our children safe throughout the school year.

Check out CETV Channel 21 this week for a behind the scenes look at the Carroll County Public Schools transportation department. From extensive training for bus drivers to early morning snow-covered road evaluations, find out what exactly goes into getting 27,000 students safely to school and back home every day. Check the schedule to see when the program will air.