School Bus Rider Safety Tips

Each year more than 20 million American school students begin and end their school day with a school bus ride. While most arrive safely to their destinations each day, it is still important to enforce school bus safety rules.

School bus safety does not begin when the student is seated on the bus. School bus safety begins with the student’s preparation to leave for the school bus stop and ends when the student arrives at home or ay other alternate destination.

Whether your school bus rider is headed for the first day of Head Start of the final day of senior year, following school bus rider safety measures will help prevent frustrations and accidents.

Prepare for the daily school bus stop walk.

An established wake up time should be set each morning. Using an alarm clock that runs on electricity with a batter power option is a wonderful idea. Don’t let unexpected power outages be the cause to a late start to the school day.

Your student’s backpack should be finned with the needed school supplies prior to leaving for the school bus stop. This can be more easily accomplished the night before. Having supplies safely zipped inside a backpack will prevent dropping materials on the way to the bus stop. Stopping to pick up books and papers will not only lose time on the school bus stop trip, it can be deadly. Bending down to retrieve dropped items may result in fatal traffic accidents.

Know the school bus arrival time.

Your student should leave for the school bus stop early enough to have a safe walk. It is recommended that your student arrive at the bus stop 10 minutes prior to the scheduled school bus stop time. Ensure that your student is properly prepared for inclement weather conditions prior to leaving for the school bus stop.


Safely walk to the school bus stop.

Your school bus rider should maintain acute awareness of all surroundings while walking to the school bus stop. Attention to traffic, stray animals, and strangers should be stressed. Your school bus rider should be instructed on how to handle unexpected situations while walking to the school bus stop.