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SEPTEMBER - 2004
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Evacuation Drills: An important step toward keeping kids safe - continued

Original story title, Evacuation Drills: An important step toward keeping kids safe, first published in the Sept. 2004 Issue of 2safeschools Front Page, Copyright �2004, All Rights Reserved.

By James Kraemer, �2004, All Rights Reserved.
This specific story, "Evacuation Drills: An important step toward keeping kids safe," may be published, broadcasted, edited for brevity, punctuation and grammar errors and redistributed, provided credit and a link to 2safeschools is appropriately captioned. Editor's should send notice of use to 2safeschools Permissions.

Page 2, continued - A week of safety training may be a bit much for some schools, yet schools can devote a little more time beyond state minimums, as well as train their bus drivers on how to work student safe practices, including front door evacuations, into their daily routine. School bus safety can be more effective when activities include properly trained bus drivers presentations in the school safety programs.

When a fire breaks out after a crash very little time is available to escape tragedy. An information paper by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) reads, "If the occupants of a school bus or school-chartered bus must be evacuated, critical time can be lost if the aisle or exits are partially or completely blocked."

School bus evacuation training must cover the location and operation of all emergency exits and the continued awareness to maintain access to all emergency exits. - (NASDPTS)

Bus safety orientations often include location and use of emergency equipment, safe seating, crossing the road and other safe practices instruction as determined by state mandates, school board policy and time allowed.

Photo, Buster the School Bus
Buster the School Bus: A tool for teaching the important lessons of school bus safety. Buster is a fully animated remote controlled school bus robot - Robotronics Inc.
A bus safety orientation for little kids (K-5) is more a fun activity for the kids than an actual training event. Training occurs during the daily ride and can include the bus driver exiting kids at school using the front door fire-drill method, releasing kids seat-by-seat. However, in this case kids would be taking belongings with them. It is the habit of efficient and calm departures that's sought here:

The bus driver out of the driver's seat with the bus secured and keys in pocket, then exiting kids at their school using the front door evacuation model helps with promoting habits of orderly, faster and safer departures.

This daily activity also helps reduce violence, helps the driver catch an item a student is about to leave behind, littering and vandalism can be caught while the relevant students are still on board, and noticing a sleeping child is possible while still at the school.

School planned bus safety orientations with little kids likely includes showing these children where the emergency equipment is, not necessarily for little kids to use this equipment but for the purpose of telling adults that come to the scene in an emergency the location of these items.

Other training might include showing students what to do if the driver "goes to sleep" while driving the bus. Show the children where the parking brake is located and allow a few kids to engage that device. Activating the hazards and how to key the two-way radio may also be helpful.

Emergency evacuation is again a prep-activity for the daily routine, not necessarily the only training kids receive. When discussing what should happen after a crash drivers can mention when kids should stay on the bus and also the kinds of situations when they MUST get off the bus.

Three situations require immediate evacuation from the bus and quickly moving to a safe area at least 100 feet away from the bus:

1. FIRE - evacuate immediately if the engine or any part of the bus is on fire;
2. DANGER of FIRE - evacuate if the bus is near an existing fire and moving the bus away is not possible or if smoke is seen or there is a smell of gasoline;
3. UNSAFE POSITION - evacuate if the bus is on railroad tracks, near water or a cliff where the bus might move - go into the water or over a cliff or where there is danger of collision such as a position over a hill or around a curve where the bus would not be seen. (Source).

Safe sitting can be discussed. Talking about the reasons kids should talk quietly and only with the students sitting in the same seat with them, window precautions and following the bus driver's directions are key issues. Keeping hands and feet to self, staying out of the aisle are other expectations worth mentioning.

Behavior outside the bus is an important topic. It must be made clear to the kids to never chase the bus, never return to the bus after departing or crawl under the bus or stoop down out of the driver's view to retrieve something. Instruct to tell the bus driver and let the driver retrieve the item.

Crossing the road is another important issue that should be covered, especially since children under age nine are most vulnerable to being run of by the bus itself. Instruct children that when crossing, they must stay together and cross together in full view of the driver. And not to cross, even when given the signal to cross, if a they notice a student close to the bus that the bus driver might not know is there.

Often presenters fail to tell the kids to alert the bus driver if they see someone too close to the bus. Not engaging a bus load of eyes, ears and brains is a mistake that when corrected can help save lives.

Having a back-up plan if missing the bus is an important part of safety instruction. Ask what their plan is in the event the bus door closes and the bus is leaving without them.

Ask questions that include a clue to the answer after presenting the specific information you just gave: "Is it safe to scream on the school bus?" -- "Is sitting backward something that's safe on a school bus?" -- What should you do if a student is bothering you or taking something that's yours?" -- When crossing do safe kids walk forward the bus where the bus driver can see them? -- Do safe kids wait for the bus driver's signal before walking across the road together? -- Should a safe kid ever chase the bus or crawl under the bus? -- What's your plan if you miss the bus?"

Handouts probably should include information to parents and school staff on how they can help the bus driver keep kids safe on the buses and at their bus stops. Where the bus driver is the only adult on the bus, inform parents that three classrooms of kids have no supervision when the bus is moving, and that without the kids, parents and school staff help no bus should be considered a safe place for children or their bus driver.

Grades 6-8 demand a twist to hold their attention. A short discussion about why no seatbelts on the buses is a useful start but should not reflect a political statement for or against seatbelts. It could be said that seatbelts are not required on school buses WHEN students sit in their seats according to the bus driver's directions, that the majority of students most seriously hurt in crashes are sitting sideways, into the aisle, backwards or some other way that defeats the compartmentalization safety features on school buses.

With this group it can be useful (and informative to school staff on board) to talk a little about how horseplay and loud voices can cause a bus to be unsafe. A recent press story and a few stats' to support your presentation can be effective: "A majority of the bus crashes determined to be the bus driver at fault are a result of bus driver distraction because of student misbehavior on the bus. It is for this reason bus drivers are so insistent that the bus be calm and orderly."

Mention the bus rules that are posted on the bus, in student handbooks and usually on the back of the bus registration card. It is adequate, concerning these rules, to say that students are expected to know these rules before boarding the school bus.

Talk briefly about behaviors that can result in immediate removal from the school bus: Defiance against the bus driver or the bus driver's directions, physical assault, bullying, harassment, threats, weapons, giving a false name or report might be some of the violations that can result in immediate removal from the bus and automatic loss of bus riding privileges for a period of time.

Mention that bus drivers can experience heart attacks, strokes, can go unconscious from an illness producing toxins that render the driver unconscious, and what to do in the event the driver goes unconscious while driving the bus. Show the location of the parking brake -- release and engage the parking brake a few times, mention turning off the ignition, turning on the hazards and calling for help.

The location of emergency equipment and use of the fire extinguisher can be explained to this age group. The answer to a bus on fire after a crash remains the same for all ages: Get off that bus! No fire or other situation mentioned earlier, then it is probably best to remain on the bus, since the design of the bus will continue to protect the occupants.
Statistics

  • School Transportation News uses a figure of 10 billion annual student rides on school buses each year. Based on one boarding and deboarding per ride, this equates to 20 billion school bus boardings and deboardings, annually.
  • Over 400 students have been struck and killed by their school bus over the past two decades. Over 400 people are struck and killed by trains each year.
  • According to a report by the National Academies' Transportation Research Board, titled, "The Relative Risks of School Travel," travel to-and-from school by private passenger vehicle, as well as bicycling and walking, place students at greater risk than traveling by school bus.

    The report notes that every year, about "800 school-age children are killed in motor vehicle crashes during normal school travel - weekday mornings and afternoons during school months - accounting for about 14 percent of the 5,600 child deaths that occur on the nation�s roadways. Of these 800 deaths, only about 2 percent are school-bus related, while 74 percent occur in private passenger vehicles and 22 percent are the result of pedestrian or bicycle accidents. More than half of these deaths of children between age 5 and 18 occur during normal school travel hours when a teen-ager is driving.

  • Each year, 173 children ages 14 and under die in bicycle-related crashes and an additional 370,000 children ages 14 and under are treated in hospital emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries. Nearly 51 percent of children ages 10 to 14 who suffered a serious bike injury were diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. -The National SAFE KIDS Campaign
  • Pedestrian injuries are the 3rd leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children.

    COMPARATIVES
    Compiled from data reported by the National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 50, No. 15, September 16, 2002

    Falls
    5-14 yrs: 37
    15-24 yrs: 237

    Accidental Discharge of Firearms
    5-14 yrs: 67
    15-24 yrs: 202

    Drowning
    5-14 yrs: 375
    15-24 yrs: 646

    Poisoning and Noxious Substances
    5-14 yrs: 266
    15-24 yrs: 1,160

    SCHOOL BUS PASSENGER DEATHS FROM CRASHES

    To and From School:
    About *12 Per Year

    (*Safety features and training have reduced fatalities by more than 50% in 30 years.)

  • Physical Assaults on the school bus and after departing at the bus stop kill more kids than the number of children killed in school bus crashes.
  • "It is likely a young girl's first encounter with sexual harassment will occur on a school bus." - Carlyle Beezly, Head of the National Tennessee School Bus System
  • High school students can be difficult to hold an interest in whatever is being presented by an adult. Trained teachers can experience difficulty holding this age groups interest. Some of this is normal and some is a result of school staff not expecting greater respect from their students. At this age more than a few kids pretty much resent a nurturing approach, being mommied. Mentor, not nurture, the kids in this age group.

    Excerpts for this presentation assumes the school and bus driver is actually attempting to communicate an actual message rather than simply claim meeting some state minimum requirement.

    To keep their interest mimic a state training or seminar presenter that held your interest. Move your hands about, pace a bit, hold up a copy of a news clip involving dead kids and the buses, slap a seat during a critical statement, lower and/or raise your voice during a highlighted statement, have facts and stats at hand applied throughout your presentation that grab, shock, scare and inform your crowd.

    Here are a few examples that tend to get attention:

    Presenter: I apologize that so often there simply is no time on the route to pull the bus over and talk twenty minutes as to "why" a direction should be followed.

    So, today, let's take just a moment to elaborate on this item: The pop can.

    (Play it up - present emotion and defiance) What's the big deal about drinking pop on the bus?! It's ridiculous that we can't even drink a pop on the bus! Those in charge are out to take away every right we have! It's unfair! It's unjust! It's mind control!

    Right?

    Hold up a sheet of paper with 32 MILLION written on it with a felt marker.

    In Flagstaff, Arizona, a pop can cost Flagstaff schools 32 million dollars. What happened is someone drinking a pop sat the empty can on a seat or the floor. That can ended up at the front of the bus near the driver's foot controls. The bus driver, distracted for just a moment -- trying to kick the can away from the foot controls and retrieve it -- lost control of the bus resulting in a crash. In settlement for the injuries caused students on that bus, the state of Arizona agreed to pay 10 Million. The school district, self insured, was held responsible for 22 Million Dollars.

    Happens too often on school buses -- pop cans and other distractions ending with kids hurt and their school district sued for MILLIONS!!

    But that's not the worst of this story. In the Flagstaff event, one of the students riding the bus was a star athlete -- now a paraplegic. Another student possessed a genius I.Q -- now a vegetable.

    Does any person on this bus really think our school district wants to destroy lives and pay out some 20 plus million dollars over a soda pop can?

    Just recently, in Standish, Maine, a bus driver attempting to retrieve a wayward pop can lost control of the bus, crashed into a house, demolishing it, ruining the bus and sending 2 kids to the hospital. Apparently, Standish Schools didn't learn much from Flagstaff's mistake.

    Please keep pop containers sealed in your back pack and do nothing else on our buses that places yourself and others at unnecessary risk. Defiance against following the bus driver's directions on this district's school buses, even if the reason is not clear to you, will not be ignored.

    Here's an excerpt from my bus evac' notes, concerning a rescue stat older kids should be made aware of when evacuating a burning bus:

    As usual you mention the location of the fire extinguisher and other emergency items. However with older kids it is appropriate to demonstrate how to use the fire extinguisher (PASS), then:

    Your first responsibility is to get off that burning bus. If the bus is on fire get off that bus and at least 100 feet away from that bus. Only when trapped and no other way out should any thought of trying to control the fire be considered.

    Here's why: 50 percent of those dying in rescue attempts are the rescuers. Trained professionals misjudge the danger.

    For this reason, no one has the authority to demand a student place himself or herself in danger to save another person's life -- no such law exists (in any state). Student responsibility is to get professional help to the bus as soon as possible. Your personal safety comes FIRST. In the event you decide to help a fellow student or an unconscious bus driver, and many kids do this during dangerous events, do so quickly and with help, keeping in mind you are placing your own life at serious risk.

    The claim that kids have no respect or interest in helping keep the bus a safe place is usually a false assumption. They most certainly do. What is not respected is authority placing little to no value in what they are presenting. Kids are efficient thinkers. Some kids will not follow the directions of any adult they can not trust means what he or she says or indicates somehow that a direction will not be enforced.

    It should be made clear to every age level that the bus driver is one part of helping keep kids safe. Without the students help is less likely the bus environment will be a safe place for children or their bus driver.

    Presenter: "This bus can not be a safe bus without your help."

    Where there is no consequence for defiant and unsafe conduct, where the bus driver's authority is non-existent -- compromised by policy, lack of school staff support, and poor violence prevention training -- even the best trained and skilled bus driver will still be driving an unsafe bus.

    The best way to keep kids safe is for school staff and parents to recognize the properly trained bus driver's authority on the buses and ready, on a moments notice, to remove any student or students refusing to follow the bus drivers directions.

    Other options, including adult monitors with no authority to refuse to transport any defiant child, and even bus safety orientations can accomplish little or nothing to keep the buses a safe place for kids. It doesn't take the whole village but does take the efforts of all involved to help keep kids safe on the school buses. (jk)


    ONLINE POLL
    Should a federal code require school bus drivers to train students in safe practices and call parents about violations on and around the school buses?

    Yes - Without students and parents help the bus is unsafe
    Yes - but a federal code is not necessary
    No - Drivers are too picky. School staff should handle training and parent contacts
    Undecided - Not ready to decide on this issue


    Results

    COMMENT BY EMAIL.

    3 Minute School Bus Fire - Website with pictures showing what three minutes of fire can do to a school bus.

    Kentucky Bus Crash - A Legacy of Hope

    Local driver describes scramble to get children off burning school bus - (online Link To The Bay City Times Story)

    Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Bus Evacuation briefs

    School Bus Evacuation Procedures - Beautiful Plains School Division, Manitoba, Canada (PDF)

    National Transportation Safety Board Safety Recommendation
    H-04-06, February 23, 2004, This recommendation addresses pretrip briefings and emergency evacuation training | NHTSA File (PDF)

    NASDPTS Information Paper - Emergency Evacuation Training - School Activity Trips (PDF)

    NHTSA Text Guideline on the Safe Transportation of Pre-School Age Children on School Buses developed in 1999

    VIDEO - Evacuating the School Bus - Planning and practicing for evacuating the school bus

    White Buffalo Press - Extensive Special needs transportation information.

    Coloring Pages - From The Manitoba Association of School Trustees Website

    Buster the School Bus - A tool for teaching the important lessons of school bus safety.


    IMPORTANT NOTICE
    All 2safeschools presentations, training evaluations, manuals, other offerings are offered only as guidelines for development of school bus driver, school staff, parent and children training programs. All individuals and sources involved in the development of these guides accept no liability for its content. Where there is any question about implementing these materials, first check with your state's PTS or school board for approval.



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