Transportation

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 loading and unloading area is called the “Danger Zone” 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.

Young children are most likely to be struck because they:

• Hurry to get on and off the bus
• Act before they think and have little experience with traffic
• Assume motorists will see them and will wait for them to cross the street
• Don’t always stay within the bus driver’s sight