Williams Bus Lines, Inc.

Important Consumer Information

Safety First

DID YOU KNOW....that almost 40% of all the fatalities in and around the loading and unloading of school buses are directly related to the public’s attitude toward a stopped bus? If you see a stopped school bus with the red lights flashing, please stop.

• School bus transportation infrastructure is the largest system of ground transportation in the United States.
• 54% of all K-12 students in the U.S. ride school buses to school in the morning.
• Over 400,000 yellow school buses are on the streets every school day and nearly 25 million students board and deboard these buses every day.
• The National Transportation Safety Board found there is no positive benefit to seat belts on school buses and that school buses with compartmentalization provide extremely safe transportation to students without the need for seat belts.
• There are more than 100 Federal, state, provincial and local government agencies and industry associations involved with school transportation in the United States and Canada.
• As recently as 12 years ago, there were no federal regulations with respect to the licensing requirements for school bus drivers. In 1986 congress passed the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act which required all states to significantly modify their existing licensing, testing and background requirements for all commercial drivers which included school bus drivers. For anyone who wants to drive a school bus (one that seats more than 16 passengers) they must possess a valid Commercial Driver License (CDL).
• On average, approximately 4% of the yearly cost of educating your child is spent on pupil transportation.
• The U.S. Department of Transportation requires school buses manufactured after April 1, 1977 to be equipped with a metal cage designed to protect the fuel tank in a direct 30 mph collision by a two ton vehicle.
• Statistically, the yellow school bus is 172 times safer than a passenger automobile.
• The National Safety Council calls the school bus the safest form of ground transportation in the United States.

According to the National Safety Council in 1996, here is a comparitive chart showing the risk of death to a passenger in the following transportation modes. This study was conducted in the United States in 1994 on the transportation death rate per 100 million passenger miles traveled.

                          Vehicle Safety Comparison Chart

Here is a link to coloring page for younger students from the I-C Corp.

http://www.internationaldelivers.com/site_layout/bus/coloringprogramdetail.asp

Here is a link from the University of North Carolina with a lot of helpful and fun pages.

http://www.ncbussafety.org/NCBUSSAFETY.html

Safety & Education

Williams Bus Lines, Inc.would Like to Offer You and Your Children a Few Safety Tips!

Don't run, walk to the school bus.

Walk on the sidewalks and well off the road.  

Be sure to walk facing the traffic.

Never walk between parked cars to cross the street to get to your bus stop.

If you must cross the street to get to your bus stop, cross at a crosswalk or traffic light.  If you can't, be sure to stop, listen and look both ways before you cross the street.

If you have to cross the street from your bus stop to get to your bus, follow these rules:  Stay on you side of the road, far away from traffic.  Wait for the bus to stop and for your driver to signal you to cross.   Check traffic both ways.  Check traffic again.  Walk directly across about 10 giant steps in front of the school bus bumper.  Load the bus quickly.

Parents:

Important School Bus Safety Alert

Help us Protect Your Children

As They Travel To and From School

Certain types of children's clothing can create a hazard as your child gets off the school bus.   Especially dangerous are:

• Long, dangling jacket or sweatshirt drawstrings

• Long backpack straps

• Long scarves or other loose clothing

Such clothing can be caught in the bus handrail, door, or other equipment as the child gets

off the bus. In recent years, a number of children across the U.S. have had their clothing

caught as they exited the bus. Several of these children were dragged by the bus and then

killed when the bus ran over them.

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO CHECK YOUR CHILDREN'S CLOTHING

TO MAKE SURE IT IS SAFE.

Also, please talk with your child about the following safety rules:

• Stay away from the Danger Zones around the bus.

• Don't try to pick up something dropped near the bus --

          the bus driver might not see you.

• Remember that other motorists don't always stop

          for a stopped school bus -- use extreme caution

          whenever getting on or off the bus.

SCHOOL BUS SAFETY IS A TEAM EFFORT --

NOTHING IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN A

CHILD'S LIFE.

When calling companies for pricing information make sure you call more than one or two companies. If most are about the same cost that's alright. Be questionable of the one or two companies that are extremely higher or lower priced than the others. 

Ask for references, check with local, state, and federal authorites.

Remember, someone else will be driving you, your loved ones or friends. If they skimp on the regulatory issues and insurance, what else do they skimp on?

Don't let low cost be your deciding factor. Check for quality, reliability and safety.

MAKE SURE THE FIRST QUESTION YOU ASK IS " What is your DOT number?" then ask "What is your WMATC number?", and then ask for a certificate of insurance.

If the company you are questioning does not offer this information, you should seek reservations from another company.

All fleets, private and for hire should be registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Our U.S. D.O.T. # is 292798. Please check our record.

Check your carriers safety rating with the U.S. Goverment at www.safersys.org

Our Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission number is 64.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission (WMATC) helps to assure that the public is provided passenger transportation services by licensing fit and financially responsible, privately owned, for-hire carriers to serve the region.