What does a
School Bus Stop Look Like?
(What abut when school bus & other
traffic mix)
Hello, I am your East Valley School District school bus driver. I am the school bus driver you will encounter on the road or near a school while you are driving within the EVSD area.
My fellow school bus drivers and I are doing a job that is actually a mission. Our mission is the safe transportation of EVSD students to and from school each school day. Our mission is our students’ safety.
As a friend of East Valley School District, you can be an integral part of our efforts. To help you I would like to let you know some of the specifics of how we do our job. Hopefully, this will help clear up some confusions about which I’ve been hearing, and maybe give you a little better idea of what is going on at the school bus stop and why you are seeing what you are.
What
are the differences between school bus & regular driver license holders?
What or
who governs the school bus stop and school bus conduct?
What
different types of school busses might be seen at a school bus stop?
What
about creating or changing a school bus stop?
What is
the required set of events at an authorized School Bus Stop?
What
about when students have to cross the street or road?
What if
there are two school busses at the same bus stop?
What
about On-Road & Off-Road School Bus Stops?
What
about Railroad crossings?
What
about the bus lane at the schools?
What
can Other Drivers do to Support School Bus Stop Safety?
What are the differences between school bus
& regular driver license holders?
As a driver in the state of Washington, you know what it takes to acquire a standard driver’s license. Let me tell you what it takes to earn ours.
To be licensed to drive school bus we hold a valid Class B or Class A Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) with endorsements. We are endorsed for air brake systems. We hold the “P” endorsement which authorizes us to transport passengers, and the “S” endorsement for school bus operation. All of this licensing is the result of specialized training, and testing (both written and practical).
To be authorized to
operate a school bus:
We
undergo lengthy specialized training in operations, policies, regulations,
techniques, and practices specific to our job.
We
must also have up-to-date first aid training and physical examinations.
We
have undergone an FBI check.
We
have yearly driving record checks, in-service training, legal issue
disclosures, and agility tests.
We
have periodic check rides and evaluations by our supervisor and attend monthly
staff meetings.
Please remember: To you, the task of driving is probably the means to an end. You might be doing it to get to work, take your child to school, run errands, or move from one jobsite to another. To us, the task of driving is the end, it is the job, it is the action of carrying out our mission. Our mission is our students’ safety.
What or who governs the school bus stop and
school bus conduct?
School Busses are governed by several sets of rules.
RCW 46 - Traffic Law--- the Revised Code of Washington Title 46 (RCW46) is the same traffic law to which all drivers must adhere with some laws specific to school buses.
OSPI – The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) makes policies and rulings on questions.
WAC - Washington Administrative Code (WAC) --- RCW 28A.160 mandates that the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI ) formulate the rules for school buses and school bus drivers.
SCoW - Spokane County ( SCo )Traffic Laws and Codes
EVSD - East Valley School District ( EVSD ) Policies
SOP - EVSD Transportation Department Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
What different types of school busses might
be seen at a school bus stop?
You
may see an East Valley school bus at a bus stop in one of a few different sizes
or shapes. They are all recognizable as school buses.
An EVSD school bus may be a Regular Ed bus or a Special Needs bus.
Regular Ed busses need no further discussion, but lets look at a Special Needs bus for a moment.
Our Special Needs busses have an extra door on the side that allows access to the wheel chair lift.
Although
you may not see them, each EVSD Special Needs bus has a second qualified EVSD
adult on board to attend to student needs and secure wheelchairs. This is the
Para Professional position. We function, as a team, to see to the well being of
our students.
The Special Needs bus will also be marked with the blue handicap symbol.
If I am driving a
Special Needs bus, it may take a
little extra time at a bus stop to lower/raise the lift and secure our
student’s wheelchair.
The
amber and red lights above the windows on the front and back of a
school bus are the School Bus Lights. We call them the 8-Ways. (two amber and two red in front and two amber and two red
in the back making a total of 8)
The amber lights below the windows on the front and back of a school bus are the Hazard flashers. We call them the 4-Ways. Even though there may be more than two on the front or back of any given school bus, we refer to the two on the front and two on the back that are the same size as the 8-Ways above. This makes the total of 4.
The 8-Ways flash alternately (one side is off when the other side is on)
The 4-Ways flash simultaneously (all at once)
I am required to use the 8-Ways only at a bus stop to receive/discharge students and only on the traveled portion of a roadway. (I am not to use them for any other kind of warning, I am not to use them to receive/discharge students in the bus lane of a school or off and alongside the road)
I
use the 4-Ways in much the same way
you use the hazard flashers on your personal vehicle. I also use them to
receive/discharge students off and along side the road (this is called an
Off-road Bus Stop)
I operate the 8-Ways sequentially (the amber and red are unable to light at the same time) First I activate the ambers to blink a warning of an up-coming bus stop. When the bus has stopped, I will activate the reds to blink. This will automatically activate the stop paddle (with its red blinking lights) on the side of the bus, and crossing arm on the front of the bus. This is to bring all traffic in the area to a stop, and secure the bus stop for receiving/discharging students.
What about creating or
changing a school bus stop?
The location and time of a School Bus Stop is decided by the transportation supervisor under the authority of EVSD.
I cannot change the location or time of a bus stop on my own authority. I need to secure authorization from my supervisor and dispatchers.
This being said, the supervisor may give me authorization to make adjustments under special circumstances. While this is a bit rare for Regular Ed routes, it is somewhat more common for Special Needs routes.
What is the required set of events at an
authorized School Bus Stop?
(What does a School Bus Stop look like?)
Approaching the Bus Stop: As the school bus approaches the bus stop, I activate the amber 8-Ways. I will do this 100 to 300 feet before the bus stop when the posted speed limit is 35mph or less, and 300 to 500 feet when the posted speed limit is over 35mph.
When the bus stops, I activate the red 8-Ways, stop paddle, and crossing arm.
I must see that all traffic around the school bus comes to a stop.
During this sequence, I am required to see that all students stay seated at any time the bus is in motion.
Once the bus stop is secure with all traffic motion stopped, I will open the service door and receive or discharge the students for my route.
Receiving: If students are getting on the bus, I will signal those crossing the street or roadway, to cross as a group, and join any students waiting on the same side of the street as the parked school bus. I will then have the whole group board the bus together. By keeping the students’ actions to one movement at a time, I am better able to keep track of the safety of all.
If I am driving a Special Needs bus, I may exit and lower the wheelchair lift to assist my student on board. I will then raise and stow the lift while the Para on board begins securing the wheelchair.
I
am responsible to keep the red 8-Ways, stop paddle, & crossing arm
activated until all students are seated. For Special Needs busses this includes
all wheelchairs being fully secured.
Discharging: If students are getting off the bus, I will have them exit the bus and move away from the bus before heading home. I will have any students who need to cross the street or roadway gather at the end of the crossing arm on the side of the road. Once gathered, I will signal them to cross as a group.
If I am driving a Special Needs bus, I will again lower the lift, assist my student safely away from the bus, and raise/stow the lift.
I am required to keep the red 8-Ways, stop sign, and crossing arm activated until all students are safely well off the roadway and at least 10 feet away from the school bus. If students need to walk along the side of the roadway beside the bus, they would need to be 10 feet beyond the end of the bus.
Students Crossing the
Street or Roadway: The situation where students need to cross the
street/roadway at a school bus stop, is the most potentially hazardous school
bus stop condition. Please see the section titled: What about when students have to cross the street or road?
Proceeding On: Once all students are safely off the
street/road, away from the bus, and/or seated on the bus (with any wheelchairs
secured), I will disengage the traffic controls and proceed without unnecessary
delay down the road.
Please remember I am checking to be sure there are no students next to the bus or running toward it before putting the bus in motion.
If I keep the red 8-Ways on for a period of time, I may be aware of a reason for keeping the bus stop secure that may not be obvious to someone not in my position or with my training and background. Something could also be happening inside the bus requiring someone to be out of their seat.
I could also switch from 8-Ways to 4-Way flashers. This would indicate that the bus needs to stay put, but traffic could move around if it is safe to do so. This would, however, require extreme caution.
What about when students have to cross the
street or road?
The
situation where students need to cross the street/roadway at a school bus stop,
is the most potentially hazardous school bus stop condition. I am responsible
to teach my students to: 1) Wait at the side of the street or road and watch
the watch to wait for the my signal to cross, 2) Move quickly, as a group,
across the street/road when signaled to cross, and 3) Always cross at the front
of the bus. NEVER CROSS THE STREET/ROADWAY BEHIND THE BUS.
All school bus drivers are responsible to educate students on these safety procedures.
Keep in mind that students (especially younger student) can be distracted at any time and run across the road without waiting for my signal.
What if there are two school busses at the
same bus stop?
What you would expect to see if more than one bus were at the bus stop a once, would differ depending on the reason they were there.
If both busses are receiving/discharging students: both busses would be displaying the red 8-Ways, stop paddle, and crossing arm.
If only one of the busses is receiving/discharging students: that bus alone is to be displaying its red 8-Ways, stop paddle, and crossing arm. Any bus at the bus stop not receiving/discharging students is just other traffic and is not to be displaying any flashing lights. OSPI has decided that this is not the place to use the 4-Way flashers.
What about On-Road
& Off-Road School Bus Stops?
At East Valley School Dist. School buses do not move to the side of a traffic lane to execute a bus stop. I am to stay in the center of the traffic lane with red 8-Ways, stop paddle, & crossing arm to execute an On-Road bus stop. Sometimes, however, you may see me position the bus to allow my students more room to safely enter or exit the bus. You may see this where there is little or no road shoulder or to avoid snow burms. If I am driving a Special Needs bus, I may need to position the bus for more safe access to the wheelchair hoist by my student’s wheel chair.
At East Valley School District, my fellow drivers and I are not to execute school bus stops partly on and partly off the roadway. The only passable exception to this policy would be for the safe use of a Special Needs wheelchair hoist.
What about Railroad crossings?
Although
this situation is not actually a school bus stop, it is a place of risk where
we could have some confusion during the mixing of our different types of
traffic. With so many RR crossings in East Valley School District, lets talk
about it.
All EVSD school busses stop at all railroad crossings in our school district with three (3) exceptions. When I am stopping at a crossing, I will activate the 4-Ways, and come to a complete stop 50 to 15 feet before the first track I am approaching. I will open the service door (the one students use to enter and exit the bus), open my window, look and listen, double check, and only then, move my bus quickly and completely across all the tracks. I will turn off my 4-Ways only after all of my bus is completely across.
You could see me wait to start across the tracks because of a thing called containment. Containment is the amount of room on the other side of the tracks for my bus when my crossing is completed. If I judge there is not enough containment into which to fit my bus without being in the path of a potential train, I will not even start to cross until there is. This is a situation for which you could easily be waiting if I am Northbound crossing the tracks that run parallel to Trent on its South side. If there is traffic at the stop sign waiting to get on Trent, there could easily be not enough containment.
WAC gives allows school districts to designate RR crossings within the district to be EXEMPT from the school bus requirement to stop. EVSD has made three crossings EXEMPT. According to SOP these exemptions are:
Pines going South at Trent
Pines going North at the freeway Interchange
Mirabeau Parkway going North at Indiana
What about the bus lane at the schools?
The
school bus lane at a school can quickly develop into an extremely active,
congested, and potentially confusing place. Consider some of the following
truths about this area of school property:
Nowhere
are so many buses (large multi-ton vehicles) in close proximity to so many
students (easily harmed, often small human bodies) (Many students at an
elementary school do not stand as tall as my bus’s tires) These students are
usually distracted and thinking about everything under the sun except watching
out for the school busses.
School
busses have, as a function of their size and necessary design, several blind
spots. We refer to these areas around and near our busses as DANGER ZONES. Do
you know for sure when a car or person may be in one of those zones?
My
fellow drivers and I have had specialized training, part of which is
specifically directed to this area of our job. This is training and awareness
not possessed by the standard licensed automobile driver.
We
bus drivers know what to expect in the school bus lanes while other drivers do
not even know for sure when and how many busses are about to arrive.
We
bus drivers sit high in our vehicle compared even to pickup trucks. This
affords us the best view of the situation in the bus lane.
To
aid this view, our busses carry a strategically-designed multi-mirror system
not possessed by any other type of vehicle. These mirrors are specifically
designed, placed, and adjusted to afford us a view of those Danger Zones.
My
fellow bus drivers and I are in communication with each other on a dedicated
radio frequency not in vehicles that are not part of the school district fleet.
These
truths show the school bus lane at a school to be the one place where school
bus traffic and any other traffic should not mix. My fellow drivers and I are
very focused on protecting the safety of our students and other pedestrian in
these lanes. Any other traffic entering these lanes can put that safety at
risk. This is why school bus lanes at schools are labeled for School Busses
Only.
Please respect this.
What can Other
Drivers do to Support School Bus Stop Safety?
One thing I have noticed, since becoming a school bus driver, is how most drivers give my school bus great courtesy and respect. True, the law requires drivers to stop for the red 8-Ways and stop paddle, but it’s more than that. Most people drive like they truly appreciate the incredibly precious “cargo” for which I am responsible. I thank you for that and please keep up the good work.
Please be patient. I’m sorry to hold you up, but to protect my students’ safety, I will continue.
If, after reading this you see something that doesn’t look
right, please call the
EVSD Transportation Department. My supervisor or dispatchers may be able to
explain why you saw what you did, or I may be able to use it to better carry
out my mission.
My mission is my students’ safety
THANK YOU