Dear editor,

School bus safety is essential.

The month of August is quickly approaching. This signals the state school tax holiday, and the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year. School buses remain the primary mode of daily transportation for students. However, many students in some large urban areas ride street buses and subways to and from school. According to the American School Bus Council, about 480,000 yellow school buses provide transportation service daily nationwide.

Approximately 26 million school children ride school buses daily throughout the United States, twice a day.

That’s more than 52 million student trips daily — before adding an estimated 5 million for daily extracurricular activity roundtrips.

School buses travel approximately 4.4 billion miles each school year across the United States. To put this in perspective, the U.S. Department of Transportation publishes figures that show Americans drive nearly 3 trillion miles on U. S. highways each year.

Approximately 53 percent of all K-12 students in the country ride school buses.

School bus safety should be practiced by each one of us, students and motor vehicle drivers. The Positive Line expresses ten rules that students should follow to ensure bus safety:

Wear bright clothes so the bus driver easily sees you.

Get to the bus stop at least 5 minutes before the bus is due.

Line up quietly in single file away from the road.

Don’t push, yell, or throw things while at the bus stop or on the bus.

Stay out of the Danger Zone, which is 10 feet around the bus on all sides.

Use handrails to get on and off the bus.

Pay attention to the bus driver.

Keep the aisles clear.

Never stick your hands, head, or feet out the windows.

Talk quietly and stay seated on the bus.

 

Gerald Shirley

 Selma