Tulsa area school bus drivers getting ready for start of school

Thousands of children ride the school bus to class everyday. And bus drivers are responsible for making sure each child gets to and from school safely. <br><br>But school bus accidents can happen. News

Tuesday, August 12th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Thousands of children ride the school bus to class everyday. And bus drivers are responsible for making sure each child gets to and from school safely.

But school bus accidents can happen. News on 6 reporter Patrina Adger shows us the steps some Green Country schools are taking to keep your kids safe.

There's been a serious school bus accident. Dozens of young children are trapped inside. Firefighters can't get in through the front door, so they break the windows, and use equipment to cut the bus open to get the children out. Then, a fire breaks out. And within seconds, the bus is fully engulfed in flames.

Tuesday, Jenks Schools and the townâ€™s fire department conducted a simulated exercise. Close to 300 bus drivers from Jenks, Broken Arrow and Union were there as part of their yearly in-service training, to keep your child safe.

"I saw how quickly the smoke filled the bus and I know how important is for kids to orderly get out quickly.â€ As a Jenks bus driver for the past six years, Dallas Smith considers himself a "precious cargo" driver since his number 1 priority is your child's safety. Because of the way the buses are built, he says it's 87 times safer for your child to ride the bus than for you to drive them let them ride with friends or walk.

If faced with a situation like the fatal school bus accident in Arkansas last May where a young girl was killed, Smith says he's confident, drivers at Tuesdayâ€™s exercise, will know what to do to bring your kids home safely each day.