Important safety tips to review with school children who will be riding the bus to and from school this year:

• When waiting for the school bus, children should wait at the bus stop, and stand back five giant steps from the curb.
• Children need to avoid returning to the bus for any items left behind.
• Remind children to never bend down near the bus.
• If a child needs to cross the street in front of the bus, he/she should make contact with the driver and wait for the signal that it is safe to cross in front of the bus. Children should always look both ways before crossing the street.
• Behind the bus is the “danger zone.” Remind children to never go behind the bus where the driver can’t see.

Important safety tips for drivers as they share the roads with school buses:

• When backing out of a driveway or leaving a garage, watch out for children walking or riding a bicycle to school.
• Slow down. Watch for children congregating near bus stops.
• Be alert. Children arriving late for the bus may dart into the street without looking for traffic.
• Learn the flashing signal light system that school bus drivers use to alert motorists of pending actions. Yellow flashing lights indicate the bus is preparing to stop to load or unload children. Motorists should slow down and prepare to stop.
• Red flashing lights and an extended stop arm indicates the bus is stopped and children are getting on or off. 

 
MOTORISTS MUST STOP. It’s the law!

Wait until the red lights stop flashing, the extended sign is withdrawn, and the bus begins moving before starting to drive again.
This applies to school buses stopped on:

• Opposite side of a divided highway
• Multiple lane roadways
• Parking lots
• School grounds.