Leadership & Safe Driving | School Bus Safety

A school bus parked in a city | School bus safetyWhen it comes to ensuring school bus safety on your bus, there are a number of courses and safety practices that can guide you to being the safest driver possible. In addition to school bus driver training that is mandated for every driver, you should also consider other leadership and development courses that teach you how to create a culture of safety on your bus.

Bus driving is about much more than just safe road practices. Technical driving skills are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to school bus safety. Let’s take a look at some other helpful bus driving courses and tips you can add to your toolbox.

Leadership Training For School Bus Safety

A critical aspect of school bus safety on your bus is practicing effective leadership skills. The students you are driving will see and notice your behavior as a leader, which contributes to the atmosphere on your bus. In a way, you can view this as creating a culture of school bus safety during rides. If everyone is aware of the safety standards you set, they are more likely to adhere to these same practices.

Being a good leader means being prepared for anything. As part of your school bus driver training, you’ll learn about accidents on the road and how to handle these and keep every passenger safe. In addition to mitigating accidents, being a good leader also requires a keen understanding of human behavior and psychology. This is not always something you learn in school bus driver training, but it’s something that can be taught in other leadership courses.

Human psychology and behavior are a huge part of ensuring school bus safety. If you know how people are likely to react in certain scenarios, you are much better equipped to resolve conflict as an effective leader and bus driver. This can mean handling issues like bullying or finding effective ways to calm down a group of kids when they get rowdy or distracting.

Bullying On The Bus

school bus driver stop bullyingUnfortunately, bullying conflicts are a part of your job as a school bus driver. Bullying is an issue to be taken seriously. Oftentimes, children don’t feel that they have enough social skills or confidence to handle this issue themselves, and therefore they stay quiet or ignore the conflict altogether.

Mitigating bullying is a great way to ensure school bus safety because it will show other passengers that they have a safe person to talk to should a conflict arise. What you don’t want is for children to feel isolated or alone, because this could lead to other issues down the line. By handling bullying head-on, you are contributing to the culture of school bus safety that says every student can and should feel safe and secure on your bus.

School Bus Safety Training Opportunities

A set of school bus safety training DVDsIf you are looking for ways to further your leadership and safety skills, seek out training courses and programs that can help you do so. Although you can learn this material on your own time, having a guided course will keep you on track and allow you to evaluate your progress.

Leadership courses, bullying courses, and other school bus safety courses are widely available from a number of safety training programs. These programs can come in the form of DVDs, thumb drives, or web-based learning. This means you can complete this school bus safety training from the comfort of your own home.

The work you put in now will ensure everyone on your bus feels safe and will develop you as an effective school bus driver for years to come.

By Published On: August 23, 2021Categories: Bus Driver Training Courses3.2 min read612 wordsViews: 757