How Do You Talk to Your Kids About School Bus Safety?

OK, parents, a pop quiz: What’s the largest public transportation system in the U.S.?

The answer: school buses. About 22.5 million kids ride them, resulting in more than 94.2 billion student-passenger miles each year.

The good news is that according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, “school buses are the safest mode of transportation for getting children back and forth to school.”

Still, accidents can happen. According to the National Safety Council, loading and unloading are the most dangerous parts of the bus ride for students.

Many organizations provide safety rules for riding the school bus, including this pamphlet from the National Safety Council and this primer written for kids from Kids Health.

They include the basics, like forming a line 10 feet from the curb or “five giant steps” away, waiting until the bus stops to get on or off, and never walking behind the bus and making sure if you’re walking in front of it, to do so when the driver can see you and with at least 10 feet of space between you and the bus.

How do you talk to your kids about the importance of staying safe on the way to school? What do you stress about the rules of riding the bus?