Double Check for Sleeping Children
To ensure that no child is ever left unattended on one of our vehicles, our drivers are required to park their bus in a secure location and perform a complete Child-Check procedure at the end of every route, and upon returning to the terminal or other designated location at the end of each shift.
This process entails walking the full length of the bus to look in, around, and beneath every seat, while keeping in mind that a stray backpack or jacket may be a sign that a child is asleep – or hiding – nearby. The driver or monitor makes a verbal announcement and then walks from the rear of the vehicle to the front, again checking each seat and row. Many of our vehicles are equipped with an electronic passenger reminder system and as another added measure of safety every one of
STA’s operating locations have an established “double check” procedure, independent of the required driver and monitor Child-Check, to ensure no students are left onboard a vehicle.
We provide videos, training, vehicle placards, and other specialized signage to support the Double Check for Sleeping Children initiative, and managers reinforce this message through daily radio communications and other reminders. The results of an overlooked sleeping child can be devastating. These Child-Check and Double Check procedures are potentially life-saving measures that every driver is required to do at the end of every route, every time, and we ensure that our local teams are using all resources available to keep our passengers safe.
School Bus Hero Program
While there is no replacement for a complete Child-Check procedure, STA also promotes our School Bus Hero program designed to locate sleeping children before the bus returns to the yard by encouraging and rewarding the help of fellow students.
If a student locates a sleeping child who has missed their bus stop, the driver first contacts the local manager to report the situation and coordinate the safe delivery of the sleeping child. The student who made the report will be rewarded with a certificate signed by STA’s Senior VIce President of Health & Safety along with a formal letter of recognition and special gift package. Oftentimes the local team is able to deliver the package to the student’s school administration or as part of school assembly or other recognition ceremony.
Safety Team Challenge
In partnership with National Interstate, Student Transportation of America provides a regional safety award for terminals that dedicate themselves to continued improvement of safety practices at their facility. Recipients are determined based on a set of three internal safety and compliance metrics, and the winner terminal within each region receives two plaques: one to keep on-site that outlines the accomplishment for that school year, while the second plaque rotates among winning terminals and features the location of each year’s new winner. Additionally, drivers for the top three terminals are recognized and receive special commemoration for their efforts in achieving terminal safety goals.
National School Bus Safety Week
Each year in October, STA supports the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) in recognizing National School Bus Safety Week. Our teams use this initiative to share resources with information that helps students enjoy their experience with the school bus, along with fun and engaging activities to help kids safely pass the time on their ride to and from school while learning fun facts about “the big yellow bus”.
National School Bus Safety Week is an opportunity for managers to invite members of the local School Board and other district officials to attend safety meetings, or coordinate with the local police department or members of the Highway Patrol to visit the terminal to share information about additional road safety.
Other events throughout the week include poster contests with local schools and award ceremonies for accident-free and safe driving records.
Access STA’s student resources and school bus safety activities here:
Anti-Bullying Awareness Month
Celebrated each year throughout the month of October, Anti-Bullying Awareness Month is an opportunity for STA to show that passenger safety is our top priority. We kick-off this initiative with a gesture of solidarity on October 1st, known as Blue Shirt Day, to show our customers, passengers, and communities that STA supports a bully-free bus. All across North America, STA’s drivers and monitors, dispatchers, mechanics and technicians, managers, safety personnel, and others wear blue shirts declaring, “I Support a Bully-Free Bus!” Signs with anti-bullying slogans and messages of awareness and support are posted in our vehicles, and drivers are encouraged to have meaningful conversations with their passengers about peer pressure and anti-bullying awareness and prevention. In 2011, we were nationally recognized by Hey U.G.L.Y. (Unique Gifted Lovable You), a non-profit organization that teaches children about peer pressure and bullying, as Company of the Year for our anti-bullying awareness and prevention initiative.