The South Colonie Central School District asks that you join us in celebrating National School Bus Safety Week Oct. 21-25. Held during the third full week of October each year, National School Bus Safety Week is designed to promote school bus safety across the country.
According to the New York Association for Pupil Transportation, approximately 2.3 million school children board school buses every school day to take the trip to and from school. School buses provide access to education and are critical to the educational success of our nation’s school children.
The South Colonie Transportation Department runs an average of 80 buses each day – traveling about 15,000 miles a year. Approximately 5,000 public school students and a variety of private and parochial students ride South Colonie buses daily.
Our school bus drivers are skilled school bus operators who possess a federally mandated commercial driver’s license that signifies they trained and passed a stringent test to operate a school bus safely and skillfully. They are professionals who are subject to ongoing training, physical performance testing, drug and alcohol testing, annual physicals, and annual testing of driver performance.
Our school bus maintenance staffs are comprised of skillful technicians who keep our state’s 50,000 school buses maintained at peak levels of performance, subject to thorough, twice annual New York State Department of Transportation safety inspections. Our school bus monitors and attendants are dedicated, trained individuals who care for students riding our buses. Our transportation managers lead arguably the largest and most complex mass transit operation in their local communities. This “team” is responsible for providing a safe ride for our children who ride our school buses every day and boast one of the best safety records for school transportation in our nation.
We ask the motoring public to assist in helping us to keep our children safe by stopping for stopped school buses with red lights flashing. NYAPT surveys have shown over 50,000 motorists pass stopped school buses every school day in our state. This is unacceptable!
Passing a stopped school bus endangers the lives of school children who simply are riding the bus to and from school. Don’t be distracted while driving and when you see a stopped school bus with red lights flashing, STOP! A child’s life depends on it.