{"id":431958,"date":"2026-08-13T18:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T18:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/431958\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T18:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T18:14:10","slug":"school-bus-drivers-urge-motorists-to-stop-slow-down-as-students-return-to-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/431958\/","title":{"rendered":"School bus drivers urge motorists to stop & slow down as students return to class"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 With students returning to classrooms across Bakersfield this week, school bus drivers are urging everyone on the road to slow down, pay attention and stop when a bus stops \u2014 a decision they say could save a child\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Transportation Director Neftali Perez of the Panama-Buena Vista School District said the biggest threat to student safety isn\u2019t inside the bus, but every driver on the road.<\/p>\n

\"KBAK\/KBFX\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the law. All the motorway public must stop when they see a school bus display flashing red lights,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n

Perez said drivers often miss or ignore a bus\u2019s warning lights, and that some motorists speed up when they should be slowing down. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe amber lights come on about 200 feet before the stop arm comes out. That means slow down and prepare to stop,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n

\"KBAK\/KBFX\"<\/p>\n

The district\u2019s buses include safety features such as emergency exits and onboard cameras. <\/p>\n

\"KBAK\/KBFX\"<\/p>\n

Perez said students and drivers practice emergency drills at the start of the school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents actually practice bus evacuations at the beginning of the school year,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n

California has required seat belts on school buses since 2005.<\/p>\n

\"KBAK\/KBFX\"<\/p>\n

Perez also said drivers are required to check their buses after every route to make sure no child is left behind, and that the procedure is reviewed during annual training.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe aware of the precious cargo that you’re carrying. They are somebody else’s students, yes, but they’re precious cargo. Don’t forget about your students. Check that bus. It doesn’t take but a few minutes to walk to the back of the bus and back to the front to check for missing students,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n

Officials also reminded parents to have children at the bus stop at least five minutes early to help avoid traffic congestion around school loading zones and to prevent children from running toward the bus, which could cause them to fall. Parents are also being asked to pay close attention to the route number listed on the bus to make sure their child is getting on the correct bus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 With students returning to classrooms across Bakersfield this week, school bus drivers are urging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-431958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}