Texas School Bus Awareness

Kaufman County Texas schools will be starting back up during the week of Aug. 24th. School buses will be out on the roads in high numbers. Each year around the country, school buses are involved in accidents with other motorist. Sometimes it is a student getting off the bus who winds up being struck by an inattentive motorist.

More than 1.4 million Texas students ride school buses daily during the school year. Texas has the highest school bus accident rate in the country. Driver inattention is the cause of most of these accidents. As with big rig truck drivers, school buses are very large and require more turning room. Buses also have blind spots that make it difficult to see motorist and pedestrians. While speaking to a group of school bus drivers, I noted their biggest concerns as school starts again. This is what local yellow school bus drivers want you to be aware of:

1) In Texas, a school bus can only legally go up to 50 MPH unless they have a State inspection sticker. If they have the sticker, they can go up to 60 MPH. What this means is that buses may be traveling slower than you. They are not doing it to annoy you, they are doing it to obey the law and try to be as courteous as possible to other drivers on the road.

2) Most school districts do not allow their school bus drivers to make a right turn on a red signal light. Many buses have a small sign on the back that says, "This bus does not turn right on red lights". This still irritates many people who are in a hurry to get to work or to get home. Being irritated won't make the bus turn right on a red light. The buses have a big tail swing when they turn. Waiting for a green light helps reduce the risk of accidents for buses.

3) When school buses have children in them, they are required by law to stop at railroad tracks. They use this time to look, listen and make sure it is absolutely safe to cross the tracks. This means if you are behind that bus, you may be delayed 10 seconds, so be patient. Driving around the bus to cross the track is both illegal and dangerous.

4) Most of the Kaufman County school districts have their school buses equipped with the Stop Sign Arm. This stop sign arm is located on the driver's side of the bus and is used when the driver is loading or unloading students. Many people do not understand that it is illegal to pass the bus from either side of the road when the stop sign is out. The one exception is for motorists coming from the opposite direction when a median divides the roadway. The students exiting the bus may be attempting to cross the road to get home, so people running those stop signs put the student's lives at risk. This happens daily according to the drivers I spoke with.

Please give your school bus drivers and the students a break, be patient, be a responsible driver and remember, it could be your kid on that bus.

Source: Me, speaking with other school bus drivers in Texas and www.sw.org/web/patientsAndVisitors/iwcontent/public/trauma/en_us/html/trauma_injuryPrevention_SchoolBus.html