Are Seat Belts Essential for a School Bus?

 

As a parent, you may have asked at least once about the need for seat belts in a school bus. There is no doubt to the fact that school buses are the safest means of transporting students to and from school. It is 16 times safer for you than traveling in your family car.

School buses are designed in such a way that they guarantee proper safety for students. Their height provides good driver visibility and raises the passenger compartment above car impact height. Children are protected like eggs in an egg carton, properly compartmentalized and surrounded with padding.

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Seat Belts: An Extra Protection for School Bus Students?

Are Seat Belts Essential?

Even the safety experts do not believe that seat belts would improve safety. You will not be able to get any evidence that lives would be saved by using seat belts in school bus.

Some of the safety standards you can experience in the school bus include lighting, escape hatches in the roof, emergency exits, specialized brake systems and high padded seats that reduce the impact of a crash.

As you might know, school buses are designed and constructed entirely different from passenger vehicles. It is built to ensure safety and hence do not require seat belts. You can find it bigger, heavier and higher than other vehicles. Implementation of newer system such as anti-lock braking system would be more beneficial for you.

Unlike passenger vehicles,school bus protects passengers through compartmentalization.Some of its specialties include seats with high backs, seats filled with energy absorbing material, seats placed closely to form compartments and strong seat anchorages.

The use of lap belts can sometimes increase the risk of your child's head injuries in a collision. This can make your child sit firmly in place, causing serious head and neck injuries. If you use a combination of lap and shoulder belts, stiffer seats are required. In such cases, students who are not buckled up have higher chances of serious injuries.

Driver can not constantly check whether your child has put their seat belt on especially when there are a lot of students in the school bus. Shoulder belts can lead to abdominal injuries of your child.

Organs covering lap belts will be injured, especially when your children slip down. Hence someone need to ensure that seat belts are used and properly adjusted. At the time of emergencies, seat belts can delay the evacuation process.

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Pros and Cons of Using Seat Belts in School Bus

Pros

  • Seat belts avert litigation

  • Improve your child's behavior on school bus

  • Prevent your child from being thrown out of their seats

  • Your child's Safety is doubled

  • Prevent children from being hustled around

  • Your child get an awareness regarding the importance of using seat belts

Cons

  • Seat belts are not necessary, as school bus offers enough safety for your children

  • Not effective for you in most of the school bus crashes

  • Extra expense for installing seat belts in school bus

  • Cause hindrance for you at the time of emergencies

  • Misuse of seat belts during arguments. Your child may use it as a weapon

  • Create injuries and irritation to your child, as seat belts may leave marks on your child's body

  • Driver need to spend extra time for checking whether each of the children put their belts on

Though school bus possess an excellent safety record, you can expect accidents to happen anytime. These accidents can either happen inside the bus or outside the bus. Children who are walking or using another form of transportation are most exposed to injuries than students using school bus transportation.

6 Ways Technology has Changed Student Transportation

 

Technology advances have greatly affected our lives and the way we work. With the help of technological innovation, we are able to communicate more, quicker and better than ever before. Many employers are reaping several benefits offered by technology.

School transportation has been influenced by technological advancements to a large extent. Today, most of your cars and buses are having Wi-Fi, satellite radio and a host of integrations. Numerous technologies used in cars are now implemented on school buses.

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Here follows the 6 ways by which technology has changed your child's school transportation:

1. It's Easier to Track Students

As a parent, you may never stop worrying about the safety of your children. With the introduction of student tracking system, you are able to enjoy better safety for your children. You get to know whenever a student exits or enters the school bus, as they are tracked using ID cards. 

When a child's ID is paired with GPS technology and RFID technology, you can better monitor his or her location in real-time. You can also get in touch with teachers and can have a good rapport with each other.

In addition to this, you will be able to track details about pending fee payments and thus get a notification regarding it through your app. Also using your id, you can change your child's pickup point whenever necessary.

2. Students' Safety is Doubled 

With the installation of security cameras and integrating it with your smart phone applications, you can keep your children safe and provide a sense of security. These tools not only provide ease to the mind, but also provide you valuable data to produce reports. 

3. Effective Planning of School Transportation 

Earlier, route planning of school transportation used to be an arduous and frustrating. But, with the advancement of technology, you can optimize your school bus routes easily. By automating, you can create routes that save time as well as fuel. 

Using GPS technology, you can figure out the shortest, safest and most efficient route for your school bus. Thus, you can reduce road hazards that may otherwise put your child at risk. 

Every details regarding trips will be updated in the app including students in bus, those who are absent or on leave. Thus, the entire student statistics in the school bus can be taken using technology.

4. Emergency Management

It is difficult to manage school transportation during emergency situations such as highjacking, accidents or natural calamity. Earlier, during such situations, management was unable to find the real-time location of the bus. Use of GPS tracking system will make it a lot easier and thus take quick action at the time of emergencies.

With the help of GPS technology, school authorities will be able to know about the accident and its location instantly. Hence you can take necessary action to handle the situation.    

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5. Helps to Take Bus Attendance Easily

Driver console app helps the driver to take school bus attendance easily. Whenever students enter or exit a school bus, their details will be announced via the audio facility as well. 

The introduction of latest manifest feature help drivers to get school bus passenger details of a particular trip instantly. It will produce exact passenger detail of the day, neglect leave applied student details for the day, and all pickup point details for the day. 

If one student applied leave and his pickup point is 3 km inside pickup point, then the driver can skip the pickup point because it will not appear in that day's stop list. This is particularly helpful to drivers working with multiple trips or routes. The manifest feature also includes a route diagram which helps you to identify the pickup location. Hence, as a driver, you are not required to remember every student and their pickup points.

 6. Effective Management of School Transportation   

Using the same technology you use to track students, employees can also be managed efficiently. Transportation officials can monitor routes and detect unauthorized stops, which may affect fuel costs of school transportation.

Today life has become simpler and easier with the help of technology. It has completely revolutionized school transportation. 

As most of us follow the 9 to 6 work culture, it will be difficult for you to check out the safety of your child's school transportation. These smart school apps will help you to solve this issue. It would be handy for you to monitor your child's location in real-time through smart phones, which are constant companions for most of us.

How to Teach Students the Importance of School Bus Safety

 

A positive school bus environment is key to fostering healthy child development and high level learning and is directly linked to student academic performance”

 

One of the important aspects of student transportation is safety. School bus is the vehicle that assures safety the most to students. In order to keep their bus safe, students play an important role. School bus environment is a completely different environment for them. Sometimes they may sing, play and shout inside the school bus.

Most of the kids who are having attention and learning issues may be the victims of school bus bullying. They are responsible for their own safety as well as their fellow students. With the help of school bus safety tips, teachers, students and school authorities are able to ensure safety in school transportation.

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Here follows certain ways by which the importance of school bus safety can be taught among parents, teachers and students:

  • Conduct Mock Drills

Mock drills can be conducted to ensure school bus safety. This demonstration helps the students to prepare for the danger awaiting them in school transportation. They will get an awareness regarding school bus safety tips.

Such mock drills can be conducted by school bus drivers. They can explain the proper procedures to be followed by students to safely evacuate from the bus at the time of emergency. Students should be taught about how to exit the bus from the rear door.

Students must listen carefully and follow the instructions from the driver during emergency situations. The mock drills become successful only when there is full participation from students, parents and school authorities.

  • Create Awareness among Teachers and Parents

Teachers play a vital role in assuring school bus safety. First of all they should have proper awareness about safety. They are responsible for teaching students about good behavior, providing proper discipline and supporting students.

Teachers should have proper awareness about school bus safety tips. With the help of safety experts, teachers can be taught about school bus safety and its importance. With this knowledge, they can provide guidance to students.

Parents also have great concern towards student safety. They can make their child aware about various safety rules. There are so many safety tips and issues that parents are unaware of. Safety experts help them to understand and realize about it.

  • Use Gaming Apps

It is a world of gaming apps. Students will be more interested in apps rather than giving them boring lessons. Hence it is a good idea to popularize games that teach school bus rules which indeed help children familiarize with various safety protocols.

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  • Use Pamphlets or Notices

Distributing notices or pamphlets with interesting graphics related to school bus safety can easily grab the attention of students. Such notices can influence the students in following various safety tips. It is highly informative to the students as well as parents.

  • Use Signs or Indications

It is very much useful and valuable if you keep signs at the right places which attract attention of students. This can give them a proper warning regarding dangers. And it also helps them to get prepared whenever they are trapped in danger.

School bus discipline is one of the major issues faced by drivers. They are responsible for the conduct of the students and school bus is the extension of school.

Managing and controlling student behavior on the school bus is a team effort involving teachers, drivers, parents and school authorities. For maintaining a safe environment, it is essential to teach students about the importance of school bus safety.

How can School Bus Transportation Promote Education

 

School bus transportation provides safe and environment friendly journey to millions of children daily around the world. It is said to be the most regulated and carefully designed transportation vehicles operating in today's world. And it provides the safest transportation of getting students to and from school.

It is widely known that there are more number of school buses than any other type of vehicles. Every school bus reduces traffic by 36 cars. But unfortunately most of the children travel by their individual private vehicles. It supports academic achievement with access to a variety of educational opportunities.

Based on the survey, it is found that students are more likely to arrive at school alive if they take the school bus rather than take a car or ride with friends. It is designed specifically to protect students with several safety measures attached to it.

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Importance of School Buses:

School bus transportation has become an integral part of the educational system. By promoting greater use of school buses, some of the environmental problems can be easily solved. Convenience and cost savings are the major benefits of using school bus transportation services.

Certain students are having access to educational system only by means of school buses. Without school bus, educational opportunities will be risky for such students.

Why Ride the School Bus?

  • Help the Environment

Rate of pollution is decreased with the help of school buses. Fuel costs and traffic are significantly reduced using school buses.

  • Gateway to Education

All students have equal access to education and its opportunities. Also, it satisfies various kinds of parental needs.

  • Keep Kids Safe

We all know that school bus is the safest vehicle for kids. Kids are safer with the help of dedicated professionals available in the school.

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Environmental Benefits offered by School Bus

  1. Money

Parents can receive economic benefits if they allow their children to travel by school bus. With the rise in the price of gas, you can save money by avoiding the fuel costs, which may otherwise spend on child's travel to and from school. Those saved money can be used for other things and also enables to save money for emergencies.

  1. Fuel Consumption

School bus drivers never accelerate and brake aggressively. When they are accelerating, it is better to use the torque of the diesel engines. Also, they closely follow speed limits which thereby reduces fuel consumption.

  1. Pollution

School bus can prevent many individual cars that may otherwise run on the road. Pollution caused by those cars can adversely affect the environment greatly. Hence, by using buses, pollution caused by cars can be significantly reduced and make the air cleaner.

Car pooling to school manages unnecessary idling of vehicles, higher emissions, wastage of fuel and money, and safety concerns.

Reasons Why Parents Consider School Bus Transportation as Ideal One:

  • They believe school bus as the most reliable form of transportation and it enables the students to have easy access to the educational system

  • Able to get benefits like convenience and cost savings

  • Student achievement of millions of children would be declined if bus services are ceased

  • Students would be absent more often if there are no proper school bus transportation services

Obviously,school bus transportation is a gateway to education. Each and every parent need their children to stay in school. They all deserve an education. If the school bus is at risk, then opportunity for children to access education is also at risk.

6 Ways School Bus Driver Route App Provides Safety

 

 

 

"Anyone can drive a car but it takes someone special to drive a school bus!”

 

School bus transportation and its safety are what matters most to parents as well as school authorities. Student safety is not the responsibility of school bus driver alone. Everyone, including students, has a unique role to play in assuring safety.

 

With the introduction of school bus driver console app , driving has become easier for drivers. Using the app, they are able to have better control over each school bus ride. Also, it helps to keep the bus under surveillance from inside, helps mark attendance, assists in planning route, makes coordination with transport manager easy, etc.

 

Drivers are able to perform multiple tasks with minimum disturbance. School Bus Driver Route app is a great solution for managing school buses in an effective and efficient manner.

 

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Here are the six ways school bus driver console app provides safety:

 

1. Navigation or Trip Planning

 

School bus driver console app allows drivers to plan each trip carefully and easily. Your bus driver can set routes, set the number of stops in a single trip, etc., allowing the driver to decide beforehand and act wisely according to your plan.

 

The Driver Console app shows the profiles of students to be picked from each stop in an organized way. Drivers are able to select the shortest route from their console and thus plan the trip properly.

 

2. Speed Monitoring

 

Bus speed can be monitored in real-time using the app. That is, parents as well as school authorities can check out whether the school bus is over speeding or if they are making unnecessary stops. Hence it is possible to keep an eye on drivers and send alerts to them if necessary.

 

One of the biggest benefits offered by the app is to get an idea about the good and bad driving habits of drivers.

 

3. Providing Live-Cam Feed

 

Multiple cameras are installed in buses which give driver live feed of students on board. Drivers can view what's happening in the school bus through this console with the help of school bus driver route app. It is very advantageous for drivers as they are able to observe children without leaving their seat.

 

Live cam feed saves time and at the same time adds safety and is convenient to the driver.

 

4. Taking School Bus Attendance

 

App assists drivers in taking school bus attendance. By using the app, drivers can easily spot missing child in the school bus. As the students board the school bus, attendance will be taken.

 

Driver console contains details of each student who are boarding from a particular stop. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards will be provided to each student and with the help of those cards, student attendance can be taken.

 

Taking school bus attendance is the greatest benefit offered by the app as it gives instant warning to drivers, parents and other school authorities if a student is missing.

 

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5. Make Important Announcements

 

With the help of driver console, important announcements can be delivered to students. Drivers are able to interact with the students through the driver route app which indeed gives them provision to make important announcements.

 

Hence the app helps drivers to maintain discipline inside the school bus. Similarly, transport managers are also able to play audio on the bus and thus make announcements as well as play informational audio.

 

6.Revolutionize School Bus Driver Experience

 

With the innovative school bus driver route app, school bus drivers are able to enjoy and have better control of the school bus. Technology has made driving an easier and safe one. The app makes it easy for the driver to stay in control.

 

Introduction of Driver Console app has opened up a new and enjoyable driving experience to drivers. Risk and tension of parents, teachers and drivers are reduced to the minimum. 

 

School Bus Safety Facts You Should Know About

 

Some parents think that driving their kids to school is a safer option than sending them on the school bus. Of course, when you are in the driver’s seat you are in control of the situation, and you might feel that giving your child a chance to ride on a school bus won’t offer you that same assurance.

 

In fact, school buses are the safest mode for getting children to and from school. However, injuries might happen if children are not careful while getting on and off the bus.

 

While getting on and off the school bus many children are prone to injuries each year. Issues like irresponsible drivers, horseplay, careless street crossing and even clothing might cause accidents.

 

Parents can prevent avoidable accidents by reminding children about School Bus Safety rules at the beginning of the academic year.

 

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Here are some valuable tips for School Bus Safety.

 

Students should Follow while Riding a School Bus:

  • Try to reach the bus stop five minutes early. Never run to or from the bus.
  • Make sure to stand at least 10 feet away from the edge of the road. Have patience, when the bus comes. You could wait until the door opens, and the driver says, it’s alright to step onto the bus.

  • Never allow your clothing and drawstrings and bags with straps to get caught in the handrail or door when exiting the bus.

  • Make sure that there are no vehicles on both ways before stepping off the bus.

Students while Crossing Should:

  • Don’t walk behind the bus; always walk in front of the bus.

  • Always walk on the pavement to a point at least 10 big steps ahead of the bus.

  • Make sure the bus driver can see the students, and the students can see the bus driver as well.

  • Cross the road when you get the driver’s signal.

Do not allow elementary students to cross busy streets; provide stops on both sides instead.

 

Things Children Ought to Know about School Bus Safety:

  • If you are standing closer than 10 feet to the bus, the bus driver as well as others cannot see you. Try to stay out of the danger zone.

  • If something falls close to the bus, tell the driver. Never attempt to pick it up yourself!

  • When you wait for the bus, stay in a safe place far from the road.

  • If you miss the bus, do not run after the bus. The chances of falling under the bus are high owing to this careless action.

  • When you get on or off the bus, look left, right, left before you enter or cross the road. Be watchful of traffic!

  • When you get a signal from the driver that it is safe to cross; make sure to cross in front of the bus.

  • Never distract the driver by playing games like horseplay. Try to sit on your seat quietly.

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Things Parents Ought to know about School Bus Safety:

  • For highway transportation, school buses are the safest form.

  • Getting on and off the bus is the most risky part of the school bus ride.

  • School bus occupant fatalities are less when compared to pedestrian fatalities.

  • All positions of the bus is not visible to the driver, children are prone to danger in this area. Hence, it is the “Danger zone”. (i.e., Ten feet in front of the bus is not visible to the driver because the driver is sitting too high to see the child. Also, ten feet on each side of the bus as well as the area behind the bus is not visible to the driver. This is driver’s blind spot)

  • The children between 5 and 7 years old are victims to bus related accidents.

Kids are Easy to be Struck because they:

  • Are impatient to get on and off the bus.

  • Have no experience with traffic

  • Think motorists will see them and allow them to cross the road.

  • Do not stay within the sight of the bus drivers.

More Rules on Safety:

  • Keep your hands and feet to yourself.

  • Be polite and respectful to others while riding on the bus.

  • Do not use chewing gum or eat candy while on the bus.

  • Avoid animals on the bus.

  • Avoid glass objects on the bus.

  • Say no to weapons and potentially harmful materials on the bus.

  • Avoid balloons, skateboards and other unsecured items on the bus.

  • Kids should always wear their I.D. tags.

  • Make sure to label clothing, bags, etc. with name, phone number and school.

  • Put all waste in garbage cans.

How can Driver Console App help School Transportation

 

Safety of school transportation is what parents care the most. Some parents are so scared to send their child to school via school bus. Hence, they try to use their own vehicle to assure safety for their children. But the truth is that today's school bus transportation is safer than anything.

 

With the technological development, school authorities are able to manage school transportation better. Parents, school authorities and drivers can now check out the safety of the children through the apps on their smart phones.

 

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As the name suggests Driver Console App is an app designed for drivers. Drivers can enjoy a variety of benefits from this app. Some of its major benefits are:

  • Better Control

Drivers are able to have better control over each bus ride with the help of School bus driver console. It helps the drivers not only to closely observe the activities of students inside the school bus, but also helps them to design the best route for the school bus journey. Also helps them to keep up a good co-ordination with transport managers. They are able to carry out multiple tasks with minimum distraction. Above all, it is a great solution to manage school bus in an effective and efficient way.

  • Planning School Bus Trip or Navigation

Drivers are able to plan each trip using driver console app. They can set route, and decide stops in a single trip in advance. Through the app, drivers are given details about each student picked from a particular stop. Based on the shortest trip shown in the app, driver can plan the routes.

  • Helps to Check Speed of the School Bus

Driver Console App helps the driver to check speed of the school bus in real-time. This app is useful to parents and school authorities also. As it can give alerts when the driver increase or decrease the speed of the school bus unnecessarily. Thus, they can keep a regular watch on school bus drivers. One would get a brief idea about the good and bad habits of school bus drivers. Hence, parents as well as school authorities will be able to recognize any kind of unsafe driving.

 

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  • Able to get Live Camera Feed

There are multiple cameras installed in the school bus, which gives a continuous live camera feed of students on-board. Drivers are able to view this feed on his console app with the Driver Console App. They are also able to check the school bus without leaving the driver's station. At the same time, it saves time, add convenience and safety.

  • Helps to Update School Bus Attendance

The app helps to update school bus attendance of each student in the bus. With this feature drivers are able to know which all students are missing from the school bus. The latest edition of console app enables to update attendance when the students board the bus. Also, it has details of students boarding from a particular stop. Bus attendance of each student is marked using Radio Frequency Identification.

 

Apart from these benefits, drivers can interact with the students through this app and thus give them provision to make important announcements. Drivers not only get help with navigation and marking attendance, but also helps to keep up proper discipline within the school bus. Transport managers are able to play audio on the bus to make announcements and play informational audio in the school bus. Introduction of driver console app is a boon to school transportation as it doubles the safety of students.

 

School Bus Safety Tips for First Time Rider

 

It is a known fact that riding to school bus is safer than riding in a personal vehicle. Yet there will be some degree of anxiety and fear in the minds of parents. First time riders as well as parents will be equally anxious about school bus transportation. They will face so many difficulties in understanding the norms and rules of school bus transportation. In the case of first time riders, everything will be new for them.

 

School Bus Safety Tips for First Time Rider

 

It is obvious that parents worry about their child if they are going to school for the first time. They worry about how their child recognizes the bus number, bus driver and how they interact with others. Once they learn their routine, school bus would offer them an opportunity for growth and independence.

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There are certain tips to first time riders for carefully handling such situations:

  • Always Try to Stay Calm

It is better for parents to remain calm. If they are nervous, it will naturally reflect on their children as well. Instead, they can tell their child how it is to travel in a bus, and stress the importance of listening to the directions of the bus driver.

  • Attend Orientation Programs

Many schools conduct orientation programs before the start of each academic year. Sometimes parents may accompany their children while they go to school for the first time. These orientation programs may help them to tackle this uneasy situation.

  • Know the Bus Stop and Route

Parents can tell the parents where is the bus stop and try to drive them in the same route the bus takes. This would give them an idea about the routes and where they have to wait for the bus.

  • Parents can Interact with Other Parents

Parents can communicate with other parents whose kids are also getting from the same bus stop. It would be particularly useful when one kid's parents are not able to monitor bus due to some inconvenience. Also, they can take shifts in bus monitoring.

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  • Review Bus Safety Rules and Behavioral Expectations

Parents can review rules that they heard in orientation programme they attended. Some of the rules to be advised for children by the parents are the following:

  1. Be seated, never walk here and there while the bus is moving

  2. Never hoot or shout inside the school bus

  3. Do not throw head or hands outside the school bus window

  4. Report to the bus driver if there is any problem

  5. Be aware of the traffic once they get off the school bus

  6. Walk several feet away from the bus so the driver could see you properly

  7. Always try to cross in front of the school bus

  8. Tell and alert the driver if they are going to pick up something near the bus

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  • Teach the Child about Go Home Rules

Teach children to tell the driver that they missed stop they are supposed to get down. Also tell them not to get down the stop unless their parents or designated adult are not at the stop.

  • Take Extra Precaution

Give the child a card which specifies their bus number, name, address, name of the guardian and phone number. Hence the child learns routine easily and quickly.

 

All the above school bus safety tips can be a great help to both parents as well as first time riders. It is the responsibility of parents to inculcate self confidence in the minds of their children. 

School Bus Transportation: Is Bullying a Serious Concern?

 

School bus bullying is a growing concern to every parents. Knowing the signs of bullying and reacting against it at the right time reduces unnecessary tensions and problems. Otherwise, bullying can negatively impact student's education. It can make them fearful of going to school.

 

School bus bullying can make a torturous experience to students rather than a fun opportunity for learning. It can be prevented by providing a supportive and positive school environment. School authorities should teach the students that bullying is an unacceptable behavior.

 

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Safest Means of Transportation

 

School bus transportation is said to be the safest means of transportation for children. Commonly, school bus is the location for bullying. This could resist parents to keep away their child from such dangers.

 

Sometimes even school bus drivers ignore such bullying and fail to report to school authorities. This encourages bullies to continue doing their wrong doings. It is the responsibility of adults to take action against such misbehavior and help those students who became victims. It can mentally as well as physically destroy the life of the student.

School authorities ignore bullying as they think it is a silly issue. But they never think about the consequences of bullying. Ignoring such issues can encourage such bullying gangs and the issues related to bullying can increase day by day.

 

Parents will be afraid of sending their children to school as they are concerned about the school transportation safety of students. But bullying can be prevented by a number of methods. Some of them are as follows:

  • Organize an Anti-Bullying Committee

Organizing an anti-bullying committee can help a lot. Such a committee should consist of a student representative, teacher, and other school authorities. Hence the victims of bullying and witnesses of bullying can easily report to them.

  • Installation of Camera

Camera can be installed in the school bus for closely monitoring the students. It can show who starts fight and who are being bullied at. Drivers can thus get constant updates on the activities of students.

 

But drivers may not be able to concentrate completely on camera as they may increase the chance of accidents. School authorities and drivers can co-ordinate together to find any kind of misbehaving from students.

 

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  • Reporting to Authorities

When bullying is reported at the right time, it can be avoided to an extent. Most of the time, students fail to report bullying at the right time. Hence authorities may not be able to take action against the students who misbehave.

  • Avoid Bullies

It is a kind of silently solving the issue. Try to ignore the bullying ones. When they feel they are ignored, they naturally stop bullying. Being polite to a bully can make them think about his or her actions.

  • Conduct Awareness

School authorities can conduct awareness programs regarding bullying and its effects. This can discourage the students who are bullying and they will also be able to understand the aftereffects of bullying. This will help the school authorities to maintain a good environment in school transportation.

 

Indeed, school bus bullying can cause a devastating effect on students. It can affect a student's mental as well as physical health. Students who are bullied can undergo physical symptoms such as head ache, depression, sleeping deficiency etc.

 

They may also be afraid to go to school, lose interest in school, have trouble in concentrating and become academically poor. Sometimes even suicidal thoughts can come across the minds of bullying victims. Hence school bus bullying is a serious concern in affecting the safety of school transportation. Parents and teachers have a great role to play in creating a bully free environment inside the school bus.

 

How School Bus Tracking Apps Can Help Parents

Applying GPS tracking systems to school buses can increase the driving efficiency. The introduction of smart phones has transformed the management of school bus transportation as a whole. The main goal behind every school bus tracking apps is the safety of students.

The app helps parents to ensure safety during their ride to school and the way back home. A School bus monitoring system helps both parents and teachers to know the whereabouts of their children. Through a web portal, parents are able to track the daily activities of their child in real time. It also provides a means for parent teacher communication.

Some of the important benefits of school bus tracking software are:

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  • Parents are Able to Know about the Traveling Details of Children at any Time

All information regarding school bus traveling will be obtained to parents at the required time. They will get instant updates regarding their child getting on and off the school bus.

  • Know Whether the Child Reached their Home or School

Parents get instant notification about children and their location. They are able to know students’ location with the use of radio frequency identification tags given to them.

  • Detect School Bus Speeds

School authorities as well as parents would be able to know the speed of aschool bus. This facility can be very useful as they can avoid unnecessary accidents of school buses.

  • Observe How Much Time is Spent for each Stop

Parents and authorities will get correct details about the time spent for each stop. If at all any stop takes more time than allotted the both authorities and parents obtain notification regarding it.

  • Get a Warning Regarding Traffic Jams, School Bus Break Down and Natural Hazards

If there is any traffic jam, break down or natural hazards, parents would be able to get a warning helping them to take necessary actions and precautions.

  • Know the Performance of Children in School

The performance of each student in their school will be regularly updated in the app. Hence, parents can know their child’s performance without directly approaching the teacher. This can save parents’ time as well as teachers’.

  • Helps to Know School Bus Location

Location of the school bus will be sent as notification to both parents and authorities via the app. Most of the parents can get information about the location of the bus and thus get prepared.

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A parent app would be helpful to those parents who are working. This is because their busy schedule does not allow them to check directly on their children. A parent app would be very convenient for those parents who are out of the station as well. It would be difficult for them to inquire about their child on an everyday basis. Sending someone on their behalf is also a bad idea. In such situations, usage of apps is the best solution for parents. They are able to know the whereabouts of their children whenever they get free time.

The School bus monitoring system can solve the errors in managing school bus timings. Use of Radio Frequency Identification tags can help parents and school authorities to get regular updates of students in school buses. The GPS tracking system is an excellent system which can be accessed either through a personal computer or mobile phone. The software also helps in routing and helps to replace errors. When compared to manual recording, the software helps to easily and quickly calculate the working hours and activity of each trip. And above all, the most important advantage is that the use of Global Positioning System tracking is a cost-effective method.

Nowadays, safety of school children is given top priority. There are several unexpected hazards awaiting in today’s world. Any amount of precaution can matter so much in safety.