“Safety is a two way street and both the bus drivers and the students need to follow the safety rules” Zlatkin, who was reelected as the Chairman of the Transportation Committee, says. Zlatkin tells TLS the Director of Transportation, Gus Kakavas, has come up with “Great Eight” School bus safety rules and that the Transportation Committee is recommending to have a district wide awareness campaign based on those rules.
Zlatkin says they want to “make sure that every child, especially the ones just entering the busing system, understands how to avoid the dangers of the school bus.”
Zlatkin is asking the board to approve that each bus company be required to display the “Great Eight” sheet inside the bus where the children can see it.
“Out of the eight rules, the least known but equally important, is number 3”, Zlatkin says. “When a bus driver sees a car ignoring the red lights of the bus while a child is in the process of crossing. The bus driver will try to alert the child by blowing the horn. It’s important that the child knows that when a bus driver blows the horn, it means Danger! and the child should FREEZE.”
(You can view the Great Eight rules here in English and Spanish).
“Unfortunately some people ignore the red lights of the school bus which is unacceptable, and it’s important that both the bus drivers and the children know how to react”, says Zlatkin. TLS.
I think they should replace all BUS HORNS with an Automated message…”FREEZE” or “STAY THERE”!!
Can someone fix the spelling mistakes in the document please?
Thank you TLS and Zlatkin.
I will print out and hang it on my Fridge.
Kudos to those who strive to keep society safe.
I take issue with “Rule # 3”.
A child should not be trained to “freeze” at the sound of a horn. An automobile horn is blown to alert pedestrians of imminent or potential danger.
Pedestrians, starting from early childhood should be trained to react quickly to the sound of a horn.A horn is sometimes the only voice a well-meaning driver has to sound.
There are many horns capable of blowing. What would happen to a child trained to freeze at the sound of a horn- if he freezes at the sound of a horn blown by a different driver- signaling that he can’t stop??? R”L.
I suggest perhaps, that the other 7 rules be subject to public review as well before implementation, just in case of some similar oversight.
Hatzlocha Rabba, Aaron J.
Bill Coyle should be here to solve these problems also!!!
#4 . You only Freeze when a school bus blows the horn.
Consider this: You are a bus driver who sees a car passing on your left, naturally you will blow the horn. Dont you think a kid should know what to do. There is absolutely nothing wrong to teach safety rule that applies only to buses. Kids are smart enough to understand the difference between a School bus and a regular car !!!!
You can always count on TLS to post good news for them.
We need more safety awareness I see kids going around the back of the bus all the time. It is simply dangerous. WHERE ARE THEIR PARENTS.
make it mandatory ——-USE THE SEAT BELTS ON THE BUS
im very impressed with this and would like to thank mr zlatkin and mr kakavas it’s heartwarming to see the way they care for the children after witnessing some very dangerous behaviors on buses i have been very concerned for my eineklach im glad someone is looking out for them
Yay, finally we can all agree. There is nothing more important that there are standard safety lessons given throughout the year. And while that’s being done, how about hiring Trained bus drivers? My gosh, the way the drivers careen on curves, I’ve been very scared at times. We all need to just slowdown, myself included!
Here is another idea for safety, How about the parents of the really young children be at the bus stop for the child to get off the bus. I see all to often. 5,6,7 year old children getting off the bus with no adults around so the child has to run home in fear.
Why not just give copies out to all schools for kids and parents? If you are trying to promote safety then make it happen and enforce it. First of all, sitting down on the bus and seatbelts worn would be a great start! Danger prevails before the child even gets off the bus!!!!
Y don’t we just make a law that the bus (or kids) has to drop of its passengers on the SAME side ! No more crossing streets !!! If the driver has 2 make a U turn for that to happen – so be it- and then we don’t need the flashing red lights – and drivers can pass all they want – which will ease up on traffic too !! Think about it.
doesn’t work! how many of us can repeat any of the safty rules we read on the plane . we sit in front of those charts for hours on end and still have no idea what to do in case of emergency. (and that with the drosho the flight attendent gives before takeoff)
#15 Buses are not allowed to make U turns. They are too big!!!!!
Thank you Mr. Kakavas for sincerly caring about the safety of our children.
as amember of Mr Zlatkins transportation committee, I was very
happy to see him & Mr. Kakavas work together to come up with
answers to insure the saafety of the children of the school bus, and
exiting the bus,and getting safely home. However, #’s 12 & 14 said it
all, I cring sometime when I see a little tike of the bus, and no one there to greet them, and get them safely get to their house. When my children were
small, and I knew I would’n be able to out at the bus stop, I paid and older neighborhood child to be there.
Did you know that it is “ILLEGAL” for an adult to assist on the bus?!?!?
OMG!!!!
This is the most important law to abolish. Every bus needs an adult to assist the driver. Many children are roudy or fight. The driver needs to focus on the road, not become a babysitter.
Please! someone explain this to me.
In NY the have doors on BOTH sides of the bus – so if he has to drop off on the left side he just moves over to the left side of the street – There’s no need 2 block the whole street or stop traffic ! Y do the busses in LAKEWOOD only have 1 Door ??
And to the gentleman that wrote “its illegal for busses to make a U turn” u missed my point – I didn’t necessarily mean U turn I meant that if the kid has to get dropped off on the “other side” the driver should go around the Bloch so that he faces the other direction enabling the kid to get off w/o having to cross the street !! Is that to much to ask for when it comes to safty of our children !? And if the extra gas is an issue maybe if the drivers would work on turkey day they can make up 4 the gas 🙂