Things Kids Should Know About School Bus Safety:

· The bus driver and others cannot see you if you are standing closer than 10 feet to

the bus. Stay out of the danger zone!

· If something falls under or near the bus, tell the driver. NEVER try to pick it up

yourself!

· While waiting for the bus, stay in a safe place away from the street.

· When you get on or off the bus, look for the bus safety lights and make sure they

are flashing.

· Be alert to traffic. When you get on or off the bus, look left, right, left before you

enter or cross the street.

· When the driver says it is safe to cross the street, remember to CROSS IN FRONT

of the bus.

Parents play an important role in reinforcing school bus safety, by knowing the rules and talking to their children about them.

Students riding a school bus should always:

• Arrive at the bus stop five minutes early.

• Stand at least 5 giant steps (10 feet) away from the edge of the road. * Wait until the bus stops, the door opens, and the driver says it's okay before stepping onto the bus.

• Be careful that clothing and drawstrings and book bags with straps or dangling objects do not get caught in the handrail or door when exiting the bus.

• Check both ways for cars before stepping off the bus.

Crossing students should:

• Walk in front of the bus; never walk behind the bus.

• Walk on the sidewalk or along the side of the road to a point at least 10 giant steps ahead of the bus.

• Be sure the bus driver can see them, and they can see the bus driver.

• Wait for the driver's signal to cross.(This is extremely important so many well meaning parents will signal for their child to cross- the child needs to be watching the bus driver and waiting for a signal this is important because the parent may not always be there)

Things PARENTS should know about school bus safety:

• School buses are the safest form of highway transportation.

• The most dangerous part of the school bus ride is getting on and off the bus.

• Pedestrian fatalities (while loading and unloading school buses) account for approximately three times as many school bus-related fatalities, when compared to school bus occupant fatalities.

• The "Danger Zone" is the area on all sides of the bus where children are in the most danger of not being seen by the driver (ten feet in front of the bus where the driver may be too high to see a child, ten feet on either side of the bus where a child may be in the driver's blind spot, and the area behind the bus).

• Half of the pedestrian fatalities in school bus-related crashes are children between 5 and 7 years old.

Tips from the safety blogger.

• Practice safety everyday
• when picking your child up from a stop remember to be at the same spot everyday. To many times parents change corners it confuses the child and creates an extremely dangerous situation. 
• do not assume that because the driver has on their red lights and the stop arm is out that all cars and trucks will stop in this day and age of people talking and texting on the phone while driving many people do not stop the way they are supposed to which means the child needs to wait until they get a signal from the driver that its safe to cross.

OLD SCHOOL (BUSES)

Let's begin from the first buses to the 40's. Buses from the 50's and up to the 80's can be found here, on Old Shots, Part Duex. Modern day buses can be found on the Modern page.

Horse-drawn school bus circa 1917. I assume this was a one horsepower motor???

This is a old bus from 1931, belonging to the Dewey school in Oklahoma. I am betting there was no power steering in there...

An even older bus, from around the early 1900's...There is no comparison of todays buses with this early model. (It had air ride...every time it hit a bump, it went in the AIR!)

3 old buses from the 1920's sitting outside their school.

This poor girl waits with her bus in Alaska in the 1930's. I think they need to call AAA!

I believe this was around the late 30's, and is at a school in Wisconsin.

1924 shot of a Arcadia, California school bus...Check out those clothes!

This photograph from 1940 shows the bus for black students of the John G. Fee Consolidated High School in Maysville Kentucky. Kids, if you think your bus is small today, count your blessings it wasn't as small as this one.

I am not sure of the year of this Cold Creek California bus, but I would say in the 20's.

Claremont City, California School bus in the 1920's.

Prince Edward County, Virginia school bus garage in the early 50's.

 

Normally, I don't do side by side shots, but this time is different... These buses and their drivers were shot (with a CAMERA) outside of Sidway School in New York in 1937. I am glad we don't have those uniforms today...

1936 school bus in Wisconsin.

International L-153 schoolmaster bus picking up school children at a residential stop, in 1953.

This was a 1948 ad for International school buses...

Hadley-Luzerne Central School students with books and lunch pails getting off of an International D-40 school bus. The bus featured a 215-inch wheelbase and a 49-passenger capacity. This was 1938.

1938 picture of students boarding an International D-300 school bus. The bus is equipped with a one hundred and sixty-five inch Hicks body.

Here we see, in 1938, children line up to board a already crowded International D-30 school bus outside a school building. The bus served Van Buren township in Grant County, Indiana. They really could have used a 84 passenger Blue Bird All American!

Boy with a book and lunch pail waiting as an International D-300 school bus pulls up in front of his rural farm house. Another mischievous lad is sticking his head out of the bus window. The bus served the Fabius Central School.

Members of the Lancaster High School basketball team in letter sweaters boarding an International D-30 school bus outside a gymnasium. The bus served Lancaster township in Huntington County, Indiana.

Children boarding an school bus as the driver stands by. The bus served the Fieldston-Riverdale apartments in New York. This was 1931.

Group of school children boarding a crowded International Model 52 or 53 motor coach school bus in 1924.

1937 Ford with a WOOD body...

Jefferson County Alabama buses in the mid 20's.

1920's bus in Georgia.

West Virginia school bus in 1922.

New Vienna School and their buses.about 1920.

New Vienna Bus and driver.

Earlier than 1920, they had this horse drawn unit. (New Vienna)

Here's a better shot of it...I'm wrong.. this had a 2 horsepower engine...

A few year before, in 1909, this was the cast and crew.

1948 All American Number 1.