Bus Safety Tip - NYS Bus Safety Drill Guide

The Transportation Department has officially completed all three mandatory NYS Bus Safety Drills for the 2024/2025 school year. In an effort to continue educating our students, here is the guide in which our drivers use to conduct their drills and prepare students for possible bus emergencies.  

NYS BUS SAFETY DRILL

• INTRODUCE THE DRILL.  Remind students about why drills are conducted and the importance of following driver directions in an emergency; remind students who your appointed helpers are.
• RIDERSHIP RULES.  Read aloud and discuss your school’s or company’s bus rules (focus on any rules that your riders have had trouble following).  Remind students of the disciplinary consequences for those who refuse to follow the bus rules.
• MIDDLE LOADING.  Explain the importance of emptying the rearmost and front seats as soon as possible during a trip home and filling them last on a trip to school.  These seats are the most dangerous in a collision.
• SEAT BELTS.  Instruct students how to properly connect, adjust and release the seat belts, how to wear the belt properly (low and snug across the hips), times at which the seat safety belts should be fastened and released (before the bus moves and after it stops), and where to put the belts when not in use (on the seat, not on the floor).
• SECURITY.  Explain that school buses and the children who ride them can be targets of terrorists or strangers who may want to hurt the bus or them.  Ask them to tell you if they find anything on the bus like a package or if they see anyone following, watching or taking picture of the bus or children at bus stops.
• BOARDING AT SCHOOL. Remind students to board the bus promptly in the afternoon to reduce loading time.
• EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT AND EXITS.  Have students point out the location of all emergency equipment - extinguisher, first aid kit, reflectors, etc. - and point out and open all exits. Don't forget the passenger door.  Remind them of the danger of playing with emergency exits.
• DISABLED DRIVER.  Demonstrate how to stop, secure, and shut off the bus; explain why students should know the bus number and route; demonstrate how to use the bus radio.
• PRACTICE EVACUATION - FRONT DOOR.  (Note:  Shut off and secure the bus and activate red flashers during the evacuation practice.) Insist on an orderly “seat-by-seat” practice evacuation. Student helpers should get off first and wait on both sides of the front passenger door to keep students moving and prevent students from falling down the stairs.  Students should leave bookbags and all other personal items on the bus.  Point out a safe area for students to gather outside the bus; tell students to “buddy up.”  Younger students should hold hands as they move away from the bus.
• SAFE LOADING AND UNLOADING DEMONSTRATION.  After the evacuation practice is over, gather students in front of your bus and demonstrate the Safe Crossing Rule; let students point out Danger Zones; review your operation’s “Safe to Cross” and “Danger - Go Back!” signals; remind students to never try to retrieve something they’ve dropped near the bus, and never to run after a missed bus; remind students of the dangers of drawstrings or other dangling clothing. Discuss the special dangers at the bus stop in winter weather - remind students to wait far back from the roadway edge, in case another vehicle slides out of control toward them.
• CONCLUDE THE DRILL.  If your students paid attention and did a good job, remember to thank them!  Thank any teachers or school officials who assisted or observed.