Western students learn the ins and outs of school bus safety

Oct. 18—RUSSIAVILLE — Getting on the school bus is as easy as looking left, right, left.

Students do it every morning, but it's paramount it is done correctly.

Western Primary and Intermediate students — 1,100 in total — learned the essentials of school bus safety last week.

Children first learned how to cross the road after exiting the bus.

First, is to lock eyes with the bus driver. They will have deployed the stop arm and flashing lights. After looking at the driver and getting the signal, look left, right then left again and cross the street. Getting the go-ahead from the driver is the most important part.

"We are going to work together to keep you safe," Leslie Hollingsworth told her group of students.

The same goes for when a student crosses the street to get on the bus. Meet the bus driver's eyes first, look both ways, then cross.

"Don't go until you look, we don't want anything to happen to you," said Cynde McQueary, Western bus driver, trainer and bus safety coordinator. "That would break our hearts."

Looking both ways is always important, but even more so now. Bus drivers say they encounter stop-arm violations daily. Hollingsworth said she observed two Friday morning.

"It's against the law because someone could get killed," she said.

Thousands of Indiana bus drivers who participated in a one-day observation survey in April counted 2,041 stop-arm violations, according to a WTHR report.

State lawmakers have beefed up penalties for stop-arm violations. The harsher penalties — a fine of up to $10,000 and a suspended license for 90 days for a first offense and up to a year for a second violation — were passed after three children were killed trying to cross the road in 2018.

Students simulated crossing the street with Western bus drivers. Some of the kids did it with their own bus driver.

They repeated the exercise with students getting on the bus.

Hollingsworth and bus driver Brian Pogue taught students the proper way to sit in their seats: back to back (of the seat) and bottom on the seat.

"The bus is designed to keep you safe," Pogue said. "If you don't sit correctly ... and we're in an accident you're going to get hurt."

Make sure to stay out of the aisle, too. It's one of the biggest pet peeves for drivers.

School bus seats absorb impact better than a regular vehicle, even without seatbelts. It's one of the main reasons a school bus is considered the safest form of student transportation, along with the bright yellow color and flashing lights.

The bus drivers stressed never put any part of one's body out the windows. Pogue told the story of an Indianapolis student who stuck his head out a bus window and was struck and killed by a low-hanging branch.

"Your head, hands and your objects should never be out the window," Hollingsworth added, as the students listened on the bus. At least one student asked if Pogue's story actually happened. It did.

The drivers also stressed that under no circumstance are students to touch the red emergency handles inside the bus. Exceptions are made for an emergency, of course.

In an emergency, a student might have to radio the school. Pogue showed children where to find the radio to contact the school and what to say: "This is bus number X, and we need help."

Western uses an app called Here Comes the Bus. It allows parents to see what time their child's bus picks up them up. The app also tracks all of the district's buses, so school officials know where they're at all the time.

The bus safety program coincided with National School Bus Safety Week, taking place this week. Western covered bus safety last week, as students are off for fall break.

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.