Teaching Our Children to Be ''Bus Aware''

1-7 November was NSW’s inaugural Bus safety Week and Transport for NSW is using this as an opportunity to encourage parents to teach their children to be ‘Be Bus Aware’.

With 122 school aged children (5-16 years) injured (some fatally) between 2010- 2014 in bus related crashes, parents are being asked to educate their children on being safe around buses. The majority of accidents occur during school travel times (7.30 to 9.30am and 2.30 to 5.00pm) with kids 10-12 years old most at risk of getting hurt.

With school term four underway, over 600, 000 kids catch the bus to and from school in NSW every day. Transport for NSW has developed a five-minute video that ties in with the school curriculum to help kids be more aware around roads and buses. The video helps them to think like a secret bus agent identifying danger spots and providing key tips to teach kids how to stay safe whilst travelling to and from school. To make it fun for kids, it is based on a video game, where the main character ‘agent Walker’ is rewarded for safe behaviour. It is currently being distributed to schools across NSW. You can check it out below.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ew8pXqND-k0

Some tips to share with your kids about being safe around buses

– Remind them to STOP, LOOK, LISTEN and THINK before crossing the road. The majority of accidents happen in low km zones with no marked crossings. They need to make sure they aren’t looking at their phones or talking to their friends while getting ready to cross.

– A bus needs 9m more stopping distance than a car in 40km/ph zone, so make sure they know never to run out suddenly in front of a bus.

– When they get off a bus always cross behind the bus rather than in front of it.

– When they are waiting for a bus make sure they don’t stand too close to the road, give the bus some space to pull up.

For more information and tips on how to keep your child safe around buses visit https://www.safetytown.com.au/activities/bus-safety/