Fall is in full swing! As you revel in the beginnings of the holiday season and in the glory of everything pumpkin flavored, we at American Student Transportation Services would like to remind you to stay safe on the roads. We are a student transportation services company, after all—safety is our number one priority!

Day in and day out, our drivers need to have the sound-mindedness to make countless split-second decisions to ensure the safety of our future generation, so forgive us if we talk quite a bit about it on our blog, especially as the colder weather rolls in. We’d be remiss as a school bus contractor if we didn’t!

But back to our original safety-related concerns. Fall isn’t generally the time of year that brings to mind unsafe driving conditions. Any Minnesotan will tell you that, around these parts, winter’s glare ice and copious snowfall are our biggest concerns. But fall has its own issues any smart driver should look out for–not just one who works in group transportation services or school field trip bus rental. It’s your duty as someone who operates a vehicle to drive responsibly!

When it comes to driving a bus in the fall, there’s nothing to worry about if you prioritize safety.

The Biggest Fall Driving Hazard: Children in the Road

This fall, there’s one extra hazard that might crop up in your area: children running about.

With the introduction of hybrid learning models and with other parents opting to homeschool their children for the remainder of the year, not every family is on the same schedule. Kids–from kindergartners wandering their family’s yards to high-schoolers biking the neighborhoods–might be out when, previously, you didn’t need to worry about this until the weekends.

While it might be nice to see kids out playing, mind your driving! As you know if you have them, children don’t always make the most rational decisions, which is why they need the adults around them to do so.

This year, keep the kids in your area safe by:

• Driving slowly in residential areas. While you probably should be doing this anyway, especially if the area is unfamiliar, it’s even more important with this year’s erratic school scheduling. Just because your kids are at school doesn’t mean everyone’s will be, so pretend like every neighborhood is a school zone 24/7 and drive accordingly.

• Getting your eyes checked. Just like Minnesota class B CDL holders with school bus endorsements must pass a health check in order to drive, so should you in your own way. Though it seems a little out of left field, we as a school bus contractor are here to remind you to schedule regular appointments with your eye doctor, safety permitting, to make sure you’re seeing hazards clearly as they crop up. Trouble with nighttime driving is often a sign that you’re far overdue for such an appointment.

• Observing all applicable road laws. It’s a no-brainer in our eyes as school bus contractors, but there’s a reason that our drivers learn to be so defensive and deft on the roads. So many people take no issue with going five miles an hour over the speed limit, and reckless drivers abound. Please, don’t be that person. For the sake of your own safety and ours, listen to the laws. They’re there for a reason. At the very worst, you get to your destination a little later—but that’s better than not getting there at all. You’ll also avoid a nasty fine. If all of the above don’t deter you, we ask you this: could you live with the lifelong guilt of having hit an innocent child?

• Keeping your vehicle well-maintained. Just like we at American Student Transportation Services work hard to care for our fleet, you too must do the same for yours. Now is the perfect time to do all those winter prep tasks you’ve been putting off. Make hay while the sun shines, as the old adage goes! It’s also a great time to get your tires done if applicable, so that you have plenty of traction both now, as you keep an eye out for wayward children, and in the winter, when the roads themselves become much more treacherous.

Contact Us for Safety-Minded Bus Services With a Smile

Is your district in need of a caring, safety-first school bus contractor? As the post above shows, you’ve found just the one. Give our Blaine terminal a call today at 651-621-8900.