There are things we do in BusBoss to minimize left turns, but we do not prevent them. Specifically, in the routing algorithm, we assign a "value" for navigating an intersection. It's not exactly like this, but it's close enough for discussion purposes.
As a parent and a school administrator, your greatest concern is the safety of your kids. You need to know exactly where they are, what they are doing and what their parents are saying about where they should be. With many incidents of child abduction and kidnappings, the school and the transportation system to school and back to their homes needs to be monitored to ensure all the kids are where they are supposed to be. In order to protect your students, you need to adopt a student tracker, which will give you an edge in making sure they are safe.
School Bus Safety is an often neglected topic for many people, which is unfortunate because millions of students are transported daily on school buses. We have a civic responsibility to promote school bus safety whenever, and wherever, we can.
Has your district recently reviewed their policies for dealing with wheelchair-bound students on school buses? Ever since the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1976, schools have been required to make accommodations for children in wheelchairs, including bus accessibility. Dealing with wheelchair-bound students creates unique school bus safety issues, and it's vital to do everything possible to keep them safe.
In today's blog, we wanted to touch on key aspects and best practices when working with your mobility-impaired students. If you haven't checked to ensure you're up-to-date on wheelchair policies, it's a perfect time to do so.
One of the biggest mistakes we occasionally see people make in regards to bus driving is believing that school bus safety begins and ends on the school bus itself. It's understandable how someone might take a reductive view on the matter since, after all, the driver is the one at the steering wheel.
However, the reality is that school bus safety goes far beyond the driver themselves. Keeping our children safe on school buses is an effort that almost everyone in a school district can contribute to. So we wanted to talk a bit about this, and the various ways people can help ensure our school bus rides are as safe as possible.
To outsource or not to outsource? For decades, this has been a pressing question which student bus transportation coordinators have wrestled with.
Every year, more pressure is put on school districts to move away from older gasoline/diesel school buses, and to deploy electric vehicles (EVs) instead. EVs have become entirely viable for bus fleets while bringing numerous advantages. EVs require less maintenance, are cheaper to run, and produce effectively no pollution.
School bus drivers are typically required to complete extensive training before hitting the road. In most districts, this includes instruction for dealing with emergency situations. Deciding what topics should be covered can be a difficult decision because training utilizes valuable time and resources. Here are some subjects that should be included in your school bus safety training program.
Illegal passing of school buses is a major school bus safety concern. Though passing a stopped school bus is against the law in most areas, traffic codes vary from state to state. Because this poses such a threat to students, many local governments are cracking down and developing legislation to prevent the practice.
In recent years, school districts around the country have had to improve security in response to ever more shootings, violence, and even terrorist activity. It's a dangerous world, and schools have to be prepared. However, all too often a district will focus all its efforts on their school buildings and other immediate property, while mostly overlooking school bus security.
