Silent Witness highlighted the fact that more than 90 percent of school bus accidents occurred as a result of the driver being distracted by students misbehaving. As the only adult on the bus, drivers can find themselves in real difficulties if they have students who won't sit down and be quiet. Kids really need to be trained to stay in their seats, even if they do not have seat belts, and not to make too much noise. They also need to learn how to behave when they get on and leave the bus. Drivers should tell children to cross the road in front of the bus, not behind, and make sure that all the children who exited at that stop are accounted for before driving off again. This ensures that they do not run over the children as they drive off.
Laws against the use of cell phones when driving are not consistent throughout the U.S. This means that largely, school bus drivers are not barred from using them, either with ear-pieces or without. The use of hand-held devices are more distracting than cell phones with ear-pieces, but Human Factors experts include auditory and cognitive distractions as two of the four main types of driving distraction. As Harleyville's Loss Control Department points out, these distractions are not eliminated with the use of hands-free equipment. Its report on the subject argues that school bus drivers should not be allowed to use cell phones at all when driving.
While most states still don't allow advertising on school buses, some school districts have gone ahead and allowed it over the past few years, due to increasing financial pressures. Those who argue against it, however, say that school buses are deliberately designed with warning lamps and a bright yellow color, along with other distinctive safety features, so other drivers are alerted to its presence and know what it means. They claim that advertising, designed to attract attention from passing motorists, will displace these school bus distinctions, thereby compromising safety. The Florida Association for Pupil Transportation takes the view that, while there are currently no statistics specifically on driver distraction caused by advertising, the knowledge that accidents are often a result of driver distraction and that advertising has the potential to increase that, is reason enough to disallow it on school buses.
Along with the extra distractions from students and so on, school bus drivers also have to contend with difficult weather conditions, just like any other driver, and also have to make lots of stops and starts along their journey. All of these factors can add up to more driver distraction on some journeys than others.
