School Bus Safety Takes Center Stage In Missoula This Year

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - With school now in session, I reached out to Shawnae Stanton, Clerical Administrator at Beach Transportation, Missoula’s long-time school bus company, about their policies regarding safety both boarding and disembarking from school buses.

With School now in Session, School Buses are Transporting Students Every Weekday

“As our buses are out on the road, as you might have guessed, maybe more traffic as things kind of change up their patterns in Missoula traffic,” began Stanton. “So just give us a little bit of extra time and a little bit of extra grace on the road as we load up those students safely. If at any time you see us flip on our overhead red lights and that stop sign comes out, then we really need all traffic in both directions of the street to give us a pause and stop while we're loading those kids safely.”

Stanton said all Beach Transportation school bus drivers receive rigorous training before the school year begins, as we as refresher training throughout the year, as safety is their primary concern.

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All Beach Transportation Bus Drivers Receive Extensive Training

“Our drivers undergo rigorous training for a couple of months before they get their CDL (Commercial Drivers License), and they all get refreshers at the beginning of the year as well,” she said. “So if someone were to pass a stop sign or our ‘reds’ (red lights) are going while we're loading or unloading, the driver of that school bus knows to make sure all those students stop loading, in case a vehicle were to maybe come a little too close, and also using our horn if a student's going to be in a dangerous situation, especially crossing those fronts of those school busses.”

Stanton said school bus drivers look out for each other and report the license number of any driver who poses a safety situation.

The Policy of Every School Bus Driver is Student Safety First

“Our number one focus is always going to be on the kids first,” she said. “So, if there's another school bus nearby and they see it happening, sometimes our fellow school bus drivers will help us out and get that (license) plate for us, so we can pass that along to the local authorities to help us out in getting that situation resolved. But in the meantime, if it was just a single driver, yes, we're highly focused 100 percent on that student interaction just to make sure that they're safe.”

Stanton said there is always ongoing communication between drivers and Beach Transportation, putting safety first for the students.

Beach Transportation has Been Serving Missoula Students Since 1941

“Through the first week, we ask our drivers to give us safety information at each stop and then, as well as when they get to the school to drop off and pick up in the afternoon, going over those safety things such as like watching our driver for hand signals if they're (students are) going to cross in front of a school bus, making sure to be at the bus stop on time, ideally five minutes prior, just in case we're running a little bit ahead of schedule and making sure not to approach a moving bus until we're fully stopped and those doors open.”

Beach Transportation has been the school bus provider for Missoula since 1941, that’s over 84 years. Click here to read about the history of Beach Transportation.