Parent Waves a Child Across the Bus Front
At 2:45 p.m. you are loading bus 214 at an elementary school. Your bus holds 62 students; 48 are aboard. The bus lane is on the right, and the parent car line is on the left. A 6-year-old stands at the curb with a backpack. A parent in a silver SUV waves the child to cross in front of your bus from left to right. Your door is open, the engine is running, and the stop arm is not deployed because you are on school grounds. The child steps off the curb toward your front bumper. A crossing guard is 30 feet away helping another group. Your right mirror shows the child's shoes below the hood line.
1. What is your immediate action?
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Keep the bus completely stopped. Do not move, even if the child seems to hesitate. Make your hand signal a clear stop palm toward the child and say loudly, 'Stop. Wait for me.' Do not return the parent's wave and do not motion the child across. Because the child's shoes are below the hood line, you cannot see the child's full body from the driver's seat, so moving is not an option. If the child continues into the danger zone and you believe the bus could move, sound the horn briefly, but do not use it as a substitute for stopping. Wait until the child is either back on the curb or safely across and visible to you. Check both mirrors before doing anything else.
2. Why should you not wave the child across when the parent is signaling?
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The parent cannot see your blind spots, cannot control traffic in the bus lane, and is not responsible for the child's safety at your bus. If you wave, you become the person who authorized the crossing, and the child may assume every future bus front is safe to cross without a driver's signal. The correct procedure is for the driver to signal the child only after checking traffic, mirrors, and the danger zone, or for the crossing guard to control the crossing. A parent's wave does not override your duty. The child is also small enough to disappear below the hood line, so your signal must come from a position where you can see the child clearly.
3. What do you do after the child is clear and loading is finished?
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Count the students and confirm that 62 are aboard or accounted for. Close the door, check the mirrors, and make sure no student is in the front or rear danger zone. Do not move until all students are seated and the area is clear. Report the parent wave to the school administrator or crossing guard so the car line can be corrected. If the child was actually in the danger zone, complete an incident report even if no contact occurred. The key judgment is that loading is not finished when the last student boards; it is finished when every student is counted, seated, and clear of the bus.