Buses are lined up, gassed up and ready to pick your child up for school. "You need to be very careful, very careful on the bus." Sherri Smith, the Safety Training Supervisor at Durham is teaching these kids, how to ride a bus safely.
When boarding the bus, the kids need to hold onto the rail and walk onto the bus. Seven year-old Sara Bounds says, "When you get on the bus, you have to hold on to this pole so you won't fall."
Most buses do not have seat-belts, so kids need to sit all the way back in the seat. Nine year old Dezerey Ortega explains, "If the bus is still driving, you may fly onto the bottom of the bus, onto the floor and if you do, you might get injured or hurt, so you should keep your back to the bus.
When on the bus, kids need to refrain from shouting or yelling. Seven year old Karaysha White says, "On the bus, I use my quiet voice." That's because the driver needs to pay attention, especially when coming upon railroad tracks.
Safety Trainer Jackie Johnson explains what a driver does when approaching railroad tracks. "I'm going to turn on my hazard lights as I get ready to approach the railroad track and I'm going to stop fifteen feet from the track. I'm going to secure my bus by taking it out of gear. I'm going to pull my spring break which is my emergency brake. I'm going to open my door and my window and I'm going to turn off the noise and the air conditioner. Then I'm going to look down the track, left right and left again. Then I close the door and proceed forward with caution."
If the bus was to get in an accident, the kids would need to know how to exit the bus safely. Smith says,"We have four windows on this bus, two hatches and we have a front door and a back door. If we had an emergency we would have eight ways to get out of this bus."
Emergency or not, all drivers need to use caution when a bus is near. Flashing yellow lights mean slow down. Red flashing lights mean stop.
When a student gets off the bus, he or she needs to wait for instruction. Smith says, "Let your driver see you, wave at your driver, so he can count you and make sure you're out of the bus's danger zone. That's what we call the tires and side of the bus. That's the danger zone."
By staying away from those danger zones, your children can return home safely at the end of each school day. For NewsChannel 11's Consumer Connection, I'm Sharon Maines.