Visibility Key to School Bus Safety

When a Canadian Standards Association technical committee set out to revise the D250 standard on the construction of school buses, improving visibility was a prime consideration.

School buses in Canada have the highest construction, maintenance and operation standards of any vehicle. Most injuries and deaths that involve a school bus occur at the bus stop, as children walk in front of or around the bus. These areas are not directly visible to the driver. For that reason, the mirror system, which is intended to eliminate blind spots, is very important.

Several changes address visibility in the fifth edition of the standard for School Buses (D250), published in February 1998. They include more stringent requirements for exterior mirrors and upgraded heating and defrosting requirements to respond to the problem of ice and fog build-up on windows and doors. Exterior retro-reflective strips are also required on the back and sides of buses. This extremely bright tape is specially designed to increase the visibility of buses on highways, especially in rural areas.

Using the criteria incorporated in the new edition, school bus operators can set up a mirror check lane to determine if their mirrors are adjusted for maximum visibility. Drivers can use the check lane to determine if they can see all points that should be visible from a seated position. If any point within the danger zone cannot be seen, the driver knows the mirror requires adjustment. In addition, inspectors and enforcement agencies now have criteria to determine if the mirrors on an inspected vehicle are adjusted properly.

D250 is a voluntary standard, however most Canadian provinces reference the current edition in their legislation. It provides minimum requirements for construction of school buses throughout the country, and supports the need for preventive maintenance programs so that school buses remain the safest, most efficient transportation on our highways.

Perspectives - Spring 1998, Canadian Standards Association

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School bus safety