National School Bus Safety Week

National School Bus Safety Week
Posted on 10/17/2022

Each school day school buses transport nearly 25 million students to and from school, and remain the safest form of transportation on the roads today. Our Transportation Department’s mission is to move and inspire students in their growth and learning, not only by physically transporting them in a safe and effective manner, but caring for our students’ and families’ safety, education, and community development, while supporting our school district's operations.

The Board of Education has adopted a series of bus safety rules and regulations, in accordance with State regulations, to make our transportation system as safe as possible.

Check out the video below for some quick safety tips, and to view a full list of Santee School District’s safety rules and regulations, please visit santeesd.net/transportation.

 

Shout out to our Transportation team members who helped us create this video:

Les Peabody, Transportation Director
Andrew Darrell, Bus Attendant
Crissy Ryan, Bus Driver
Lynn Thomas, Bus Driver
Nancy Watts, Bus Driver
Tony Ciaccio, Bus Driver

Bus Safety Fun Facts

  • Each school day, school buses transport nearly 25 million students to and from school. Yet, the yellow school bus remains the safest form of transportation on the roads today. In fact, riding a school bus is 13 times safer than riding in the family vehicle. And students are 70 times more likely to arrive at school alive if they ride the bus versus driving themselves or riding with friends, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
  • By federal law, a school bus in any other color or shade of yellow cannot be purchased. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “All school buses should … Be painted National School Bus Glossy Yellow, in accordance with the colorimetric specification of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Federal Standard No. 595a, Color 13432.
  • Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Texas - have laws requiring the installation of seat belts on school buses. Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas’ laws, however, are subject to appropriations or approval or denial by local jurisdictions.
  • Every year, hundreds of thousands of school buses transport more than 25 million children to and from school, according to the American School Bus Council. That number represents about 50 percent of the K-12 population. School buses travel approximately 5.7 billion miles annually and are designed to be safer than passenger vehicles in avoiding crashes and preventing injury.
  • Buses are designed to protect passengers through “compartmentalization,” which includes closely spaced seats and high, energy-absorbing seat backs.