Back to School Safety

Many Kansas children will be boarding school buses for the first time this week.  Did you know that riding a bus is 13 times safer than riding in a passenger car and 10 times safer than walking to school?

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, most of the children who lose their lives in bus-related crashes are pedestrians, four to seven years old, who are hit by the bus or by motorists illegally passing a stopped school bus.   We want to take a minute to remind drivers of the rules when approaching school buses.

• It is illegal to pass a school bus that is stopped to load or unload children.

• Traffic from both directions must stop on undivided roadways when students are entering or exiting a school bus.

• On a divided roadway, traffic behind the bus must stop.

• Never pass a school bus on the right.

• The area 10 feet around the school bus is where children are in the most danger of being hit.  Stop your car far enough from the bus to allow children the necessary space to safely enter and exit the bus.

• Be alert.  Children can forget to look both ways when crossing the street.

For more tips for children and motorists, click here.