October 17 to 23 is School Bus Safety Week in Alberta. It coincides with National School Safety Week.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shelved most of the bus evacuation drills and other activities schools would usually hold during Bus Safety Week, said St. Albert Public transportation manager Julie Ptasznyk. It has also contributed to a driver shortage, making buses less likely to arrive on time.
One new tool introduced this year to help is an app called Chipmunk, which uses GPS to track buses in real time so parents can tell if a bus is late, Ptasznyk said. About half of the district’s 1,880 riders are using the app, which she acknowledged still has some bugs in it.
“A lot of it is peace of mind for parents,” Ptasznyk said — combined with on-bus card scanners, parents can now know when their kids board and leave a bus if they can’t be there first-hand as a witness.
Greater St. Albert Catholic parents can use a similar app to track their kids on buses, GSACRD transportation supervisor Lauri-Ann Turnbull said in an email. Their buses have also been equipped with predictive stop-arm systems which use radar to measure the speed of oncoming cars in rural areas and play warnings if a car is unlikely to stop in time for a student.
One Bus Safety Week activity that is still going ahead is the Alberta Student Transportation Advisory Council’s annual poster contest, Ptasznyk said. Grades K-to-6 students can submit posters depicting a yellow school bus and the theme “Bus Rules Rock” for a chance to win cash prizes for themselves and their class.
Safety tips
In an email, St. Albert RCMP Const. MJ Burroughs advised parents to walk with their kids to the bus stop until they know the route and to teach them about pedestrian safety. Youths should walk, not run, to the bus, arrive at least five minutes before the bus comes, and not use mobile devices en-route to the bus stop.
Alberta Health Services advised parents to teach their kids to take five steps back when a bus approaches a stop and to not step forward until the bus has stopped moving. Students should get on and off the bus one at a time with use of the handrail and keep their heads and limbs in the bus while it is in motion.
Visit myhealth.alberta.ca/Alberta/Pages/school-bus-safety.aspx for more bus safety tips.
