Wake County making changes to school bus boarding procedures

Wake County schools are changing the way students get on and off school buses.

Keeping kids safe is the motivation behind the new bus boarding plan by the Wake County Public School System. According to the state, about 3,000 drivers pass stopped school busses every day in North Carolina.

Wake County bus drivers usually turn on the red lights, stop sign, crossing bar and opened the door all at once.

In the new process, the bus driver will use a switch to extend the stop sign on the side of the bus and turn on the red flashing lights. The bus driver will then check traffic before deploying the crossing bar and opening the doors.

This new rule means students must wait until the second step before leaving the bus stop and entering the school bus.

“It will now be up to the bus driver as to when they load that bus instead of waiting on the motoring public to stop,” said Scott Gaitan, assistant principal of Wilburn Elementary School. “The bus driver will be able to ensure that those students are safe loading that bus.”

The school system said this new plan will put more time between alerting drivers that the bus is stopping and allowing students to cross the road.

“I think that the new bus process may be very helpful and might be best for the school,” fourth-grader Saul Morrugeres said. “Sometimes when I ride the bus I can see kids running while cars come, so this might be helpful.”

Officials said it's still important for drivers to stop for students—that's one rule that will never change.

The new bus boarding plan will start July 7.