School bus safety event to educate parents, school officials

BAY SHORE, N.Y. — The New York School Bus Contractors Association and the Suffolk Region PTA will host a School Bus Safety Demonstration Day here next week.

The March 25 event will be held at Suffolk Transportation Service’s safety and training center, which is at 50 Saxon Ave. in Bay Shore.

The goal of the School Bus Safety Demonstration Day is to help parents and school officials better understand the safety features on modern school buses, as well as the safety training procedures and requirements that school bus drivers must undergo before getting behind the wheel. The event is part of an ongoing statewide initiative to educate people about school bus safety.

“Our top priority as private pupil transportation providers is to ensure the safest ride possible to and from school each day for over 1 million children in New York,” said Bob Pape, president of the New York School Bus Contractors Association. “The safety demonstration event will bring New York’s premier school bus safety experts together to share their knowledge and skills, along with our industry's best practices, with parents and school officials from across the region.”

There will be two sessions containing the same program: one from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and another from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Each demonstration session will start with an introduction on how school bus drivers are screened and selected, along with driver training and qualification requirements. Participants will then get to experience the actual school bus driver training by going through five separate school bus safety stations, each focusing on a different aspect of safe pupil transportation.

The safety aspects covered will include school bus stop arms, video cameras, student management, child check procedures and motion detectors, school bus evacuation procedures, and a driver physical performance test. There will also be discussions on school bus safety legislation and advocacy.

“At the end of the session, all participants will have a greater understanding of what it takes to keep our children safe on or near a school bus, and the things we can all do to improve student and school bus safety,” Pape said.

The event is also supported by Suffolk New York Association for Pupil Transportation, Suffolk Transportation Service Inc., WE Transport, Towne Bus and Huntington Coach Corp.