By JOHN K. COX, 



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RURAL SCHOOL BUS 

 TRANSPORTATION 



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1 1 "■" DON'T want my six-year-old 

 * ' B child meeting a school bus at 

 I 6 o'clock in the morning in 

 I six below zero weather. Be- 

 sides bus transportation is 

 unsafe." Variations of the above state- 

 ment have been heard so many times 

 that it has been catalogued as the SIX- 

 SIX-SIX objection." 



Meeting the bus at 6 a.m. in sub-zero 

 weather is the worst possible situation 

 and rarely, if ever, should be tolerated. 

 The second part of the statement is not 

 quite accurate. No more than it would 

 be accurate to say that train, or ship 

 transportation is unsafe. 



Bus transportation is much safer 

 than passenger car transportation. Ac- 

 cording to figures furnished by the Na- 

 tional Safety Council, school bus fatal!-, 

 ties in the United States are only .047 

 per one million passenger miles while 

 passenger car fatalities are 5.7 per one 

 million passenger miles. 



School bus transportation has in- 

 creased many times in Illmois since 

 the school reorganization movement 

 started. According to figures from the 

 state superintendent's office, Illinois 

 had 625 school buses in January 1945, 

 2200 in February 194.S, and the figure 

 after school reorganization is fairly com- 

 plete, may be beyond 7000. 



Why Are Buses Safer? 



Perhaps a great many people would 

 be interested in knowing what attempt 

 is made or can be made by school bus 

 operators to make school bus transporta- 

 tion safe. In the first place, all 

 school buses in Illinois are given a 

 rigid safety inspection in December 

 and August of each year at a regular 

 bus inspection headquarters. Any de- 

 ficiencies must be corrected before the 

 bus is approved. Without this approval 

 at the inspection headquarters, no 



money is forthcoming from the state 

 as reimbursement for pupil transporta- 

 tion. 



Also the driver must have a chauf- 

 feur's license, must have had experience 

 driving buses or trucks, must pass a 

 health examination, a mental examina- 

 tion on Illinois traffic laws, and an ex- 

 amination in actually driving the bus, 

 the two latter examinations being 

 given by members of the state police. 



Then the administrative head of the 

 school system has the responsibility of 

 seeing that the school buses are in safe 

 operating condition and of planning the 

 routes with an eye to the maximum 

 safety, comfort, and convenience of 

 those served. Among other duties he 

 is to plan the school program for those 

 children who arrive early or remain 

 late on account of transportation 

 schedules, so that they will be under 

 supervision at all times, and, if pos- 

 sible, have a planned program of ac- 

 tivity. 



The bus driver has the responsibility 

 of keeping the bus in repair or report- 

 ing needed repairs to the adminis- 

 trator. Also he must maintain disci- 

 pline and report unusual cases of mis- 

 conduct on the bus to the adminis- 

 trator. The driver is in full charge of 

 the bus and the pupils while enroute. 

 He must be obeyed. Through a large 

 rear view mirror he has a reasonably 

 good vision of what happens in the 

 bus. The driver can stop the bus and 

 correct a disobedient child or put him 

 off the bus to walk home if the pupil's 

 conduct is persistently unsatisfactory. 

 It has been found that this punishment 

 is a very powerful "persuader." 



Pupils' Responsibility 



In addition to the responsibilities of 

 bus drivers and administrators, the 

 pupils have some definite responsibili- 

 ties. They must obey monitors or pa- 



trols on duty. These officers are gen- 

 erally older children, charged with the 

 duty of assisting younger pupils on and 

 off the bus and helping them to get 

 across traffic lanes. The stop arm on 

 the bus is always to be extended when 

 the bus is stopped if the bus is being 

 used to transport pupils. The state 

 law requires that all traffic from either 

 direction stop while the school bus is 

 stopped to take on or let off pupils on 

 the highways. The bus driver is asked 

 to report to the administrator the li- 

 cense number of any driver who fails 

 to heed the stop signal, who in turn 

 reports such cases to the proper state 

 authorities. 



Pupils may be assigned seats in the 

 bus and allowed to move only by con- 

 sent of the driver and when the bus is 

 not in motion. Pupils must not use 

 tobacco while being transported nor 

 throw waste paper or other rubbish on 

 the floor of the bus. Pupils must not 

 extend their heads or arms out of bus 

 windows. 



Buses in Motion 



When buses are in motion, the win- 

 dows must be kept at a level high 

 enough to discourage the thrusting of 

 head or arms out of the windows. 

 Windows cannot be lowered below a 

 safe height in the newer buses. Pupils 

 must not try to get on or off the bus 

 or move about while the bus is in mo- 

 tion. When pupils must cross the road 

 to be picked up, the driver, (if the 

 patrol is not used) after looking for 

 approaching cars, motions them to 

 cross. Pupils must await the proper 

 signal and cross promptly. Similar 

 precautions are taken for unloading 

 pupils. 



These responsibilities of the bus 

 driver, the school administrator, and 



(Continued on (i.ige 26) 



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