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In-Service Safety Series
TRANSPORTING INFANTS AND TODDLERS
 In-Service Safety Series
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LESSON PLAN
INSTRUCTOR NOTES


II. The Problem

  1. Here is the problem
    1. It has several parts
  2. First, although there are no nationwide surveys, it is estimated that as many as one million preschool age children ride school buses every day
  3. These are children who are
    1. Attending Head Start
    2. In early childhood intervention programs
    3. Going to school-sponsored child care, sometimes with their teenage parent
  4. So we already have a large number of pre-schoolers on our buses
  5. The second part of the problem is this
    1. In passenger vehicles, young children are required to be in child safety restraint systems (CSRSs)
    2. What is a child safety restraint system?
      1. A portable or integrated child safety seat is a CSRS
      2. So is a booster seat or a safety harness
    3. A CSRS is the safest way for a child to ride
    4. A child properly secured in a CSRS is more protected in a crash or even a near-miss (like a skid or a sudden stop) than a child who is not restrained
  6. And we know that the most widely used CSRS is the portable child safety seat
  7. We also know that a child safety seat requires a seat belt to be properly installed
  8. This gets us to the third part of our problem. 1. Most large school buses don’t have seat belts
  9. Large school buses don’t have seat belts because the dynamics of a school bus crash are very different from an automobile crash
    1. Large school buses differ from passenger cars and light trucks in this way
      1. They are heavier
      2. They experience less crash forces
      3. They distribute crash forces differently
    2. Many Federal and non-Federal agencies and groups have decided that seat belts would provide little, if any, additional protection in a crash for the school-age child
    3. Crash protection on large school buses is provided through “compartmentalization”
      1. Occupant protection is provided by a protective envelope consisting of closely-spaced seats that have energy-absorbing high seat backs
    4. In fact, if children wear seat belts on a school bus and there is a crash, they may be worse off than if they hadn’t been belted
      1. If the seat belt is not worn low on the hips, it could ride up on to the abdominal area and cause internal injuries
      2. Because the seat belt is a lap-only belt a child’s upper body could strike the seat in front of them with enough force to cause injury to the neck, spine, or head.
  10. Since school buses are so safe, most states exempt young children on school buses from the requirement to be secured in child safety seats
    1. But recent Federal tests have shown that the SAFEST way to transport pre-school students is in child safety seats
  11. And there are other issues besides safety to consider about transporting preschoolers
  12. Let’s talk about preschoolers and school buses for a moment
  13. Do young children have trouble riding on regular school buses? (Yes, most of them do.)
  14. They don’t fit
    1. They can’t climb up the stairs by themselves
    2. They can’t climb up on the seat
    3. They can’t see out the window
  15. Do preschoolers stay in the seat by themselves? (No, most of them don’t.)
  16. They can be a problem to manage
    1. If they can sit on the seat, they often won’t stay put
    2. If they are very young, they can’t sit on the seat alone
    3. If the bus ride is long, they get restless
  17. School buses were never designed for these young passengers
  18. So, a CSS will not only protect them in a crash
    1. It will also help you manage them
  19. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that all preschool age children be transported in a CSS when on a school bus
  20. Does anybody have any questions at this point?


II.B. Display Slide #2;
uncover first bullet only

II.E. Uncover second bullet on Slide #2

II.G. Uncover third bullet on Slide #2

II.H. Uncover last bullet on Slide #2

II.I.1. Display Slide #3

II.I.3. Display Slide #4

II.J. Display Slide #5

II.R. Display Slide #6

II.S. Display Slide #7



ADDITIONAL INFORMATION


II.B. When you display the slide, you may want to cover all but the first bullet on the slide with a sheet of paper and slide the paper down to uncover the other bullets as you talk about them.

II.E. All states require young children (the age varies) to be restrained in child safety seats in passenger vehicles. In most states, students on school buses are exempt from this requirement. Check your state’s requirements.

II.I.1. Small school buses (10,000 lbs. or less) are required to have seat belts. Large school buses above 10,000 lbs. are not.

II.I.2. The Federal agencies are the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). One non-Federal group is the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

II.I.3. The compartmentalization design was intended for school age children.

II.I.4. Some of the tests that have been conducted show that using a lap belt only in a frontal collision could result in head, spine, or neck injury.

II.J. In Vermont, children are exempt on large school buses but not on small school buses. New York state requires children under the age of 4 be secured in a child restraint system when transported on school buses.

II.M. Ask the group the question. For your benefit, the correct answer is provided in italics. This format will be used throughout the module.

II.S. This means that the school bus must have one of the following:

  • Built-in child safety seats
  • Seat belts to attach the child safety seats to the school bus seat.



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