School bus safety reminders

by Department of Defense Education Activity
Kaiserslautern District
Graphic by Lorelyn Medina/Shutterstock.com
Graphic by Lorelyn Medina/Shutterstock.com

To reduce your children’s risk for accidents and injuries, ensure the following safety actions have been performed:
• Look at and know your children’s route to and from the bus stop.
• Show your children how to go safely to and from the bus stop using hands-on instruction. Cross streets only at designated crossings; do not cross the street between parked cars.
• Review the below five safety rules with your children. Follow up and reinforce these rules.
• Stress good behavior and safety on the bus. Students must present his or her bus pass to the driver while boarding the bus.
• Report any safety or security concerns to the school bus office.

Additionally, children, particularly in kindergarten through second grade, need your supervision to keep them safe. Take them to and from the bus stop and wait with them until they have safely boarded the bus. When they return from school, meet them on the same side of the street at the bus stop. Do not wait in a parked car or building, and do not allow your child to come to you.

Important facts you need to know:
• In Europe, traffic does not stop for loading and unloading school buses.
• Children are at the greatest risk for accidents and injuries going to and from the bus stop.

Five basic safety rules to teach our children that prevent most accidents and injuries:
• Be on time. Walk, do not run, to the bus stop.
• When waiting for the bus, take at least three large steps away from the curb.
• Take your seat on the bus and stay in it while the bus is moving. If there are seat belts, buckle up.
• When getting off the bus, take three large steps away from the curb and wait for the bus to depart before crossing the street.
• Never cross the street in front or behind the bus.