Bus safety trainsing for children

[Jeremy]

I've just returned from a few days spent looking after my sister's children whilst she was away. Whilst I was there it so happened that one of the national papers printed a letter from one of the bus drivers that does work for the school my sister's children attend. Sounds like a scheme all schools should run:

As a coach driver who daily transports schoolchildren, I would make a plea to schools to do as much as they can to educate pupils about bus safety.
When we travel on planes, we are given information about the wearing of safety belts, emergency exits, evacuation procedure etc; lives could also be saved if passengers on buses and coaches were to be given similar essential information. As far as children are concerned, the obvious way of doing this is at school.

One of our local schools, Cirencester Deer Park, should be congratulated on the way it runs a bus safety course for all new pupils. They learn what to do if a vehicle catches fire; how to open emergency doors (and where they are); how to exit onto a busy road; where to stand once they're out of the bus; and so on. They're asked to make as much noise as possible while one of their number tries to do a maths calculation, to show them how difficult it is for a driver to concentrate when it's noisy; and they're taught priorities: why, even if a musical instrument cost hundreds, they should leave it on the bus in an emergency. The event can also be an eye-opener for teachers, who will often board a school trip without knowing where the fire extinguisher is. Above all, it is explained to them the importance of wearing their seat belts.

The school conducts two emergency evacuation tests. One at the beginning of the lesson sees chaotic pupils taking valuable minutes to get out. Within an hour, many classes reduce that to under 40 seconds of orderly, knowledgeable and, above all, safe exits.

Ian Jarvis
Minchinhampton, Glos


Jeremy