School bus safety week begins October 21, and a recent school bus crash in Brighton, Colorado may have students wondering, how safe school buses are. A school district 27J bus rolled over at approximately 8:30 a.m.Wednesday, Sept. 25, and sent six special needs children to the hospital. The accident occurred near E. 136th Avenue and Buckley Road and two adults were sent to the hospital following the accident according to 9 News. The bus was on its way to drop off students at school when the driver tried to overcorrect, causing the bus to slide off the road and rollover.

At Eaton, many precautions, like driver training and health tests, are taken to ensure safety on the school bus. “Even with all the precautions we take there’s still room for human error, equipment failure, and other road hazards,” Susan Gomez RE2 Transportation Secretary said. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 1,147 school bus crashes occurred between 2007 and 2016 and most crashes are caused by other drivers in passenger vehicles.

All the drivers at Eaton go through proper training to make sure they are capable to drive the bus. “A lot of it starts with the driver training to make sure that they are capable of handling any situation that comes up on the bus and just being able to safely handle the bus,” Jeff Clark RE2 Transportation Director said. 

Students are encouraged to thank their bus drivers every day when getting on and off the bus to show their appreciation.