A school bus driver’s job is not just for earnings; it comes with a huge responsibility. The safety and security of small children on the road depend on that single person driving the bus.
It requires drivers to adhere to road safety rules and regulations. And especially during the COVID times, they have to ensure their own and the students’ health.
Besides the safe driving, dealing with parents, school authorities, and bus operators on daily basis require a lot of effort.
These professional risks have a severe effect on the health of these drivers. Their constant, hectic schedule reduces personal fitness to the lowest priority level.
Major Health Challenges Faced by the School Bus Drivers
Stress
Once the school transportation starts, stress is the major challenge faced by school bus drivers. They have to drive the buses with upmost safety on the busiest roads and peak hours.
They also have to face errant drivers on the road and save their vehicle from any mishap. Besides, drivers have to follow post-COVID rules inside the bus rigorously. No student should contact another student; it includes avoiding students’ fights and bullying during the travel time.
Another stress can be dealing with the parents of every student. Until the pandemic ends, parents will be concerned about their children’s well-being, so they may try contacting drivers time to time.
This regular stress may take a toll on drivers’ blood pressure and heart health.
Overtime
The shortage of drivers post-COVID will be the primary concern for the school authorities. Due to this, existing drivers may have to follow their duty in double shifts. As the number of students per bus decreases, it will increase the working hours of the drivers.
Sleeplessness
The stress and anxiety in drivers may cause sleepless nights for them. It may make drivers sluggish and tired during working hours. If they are unable to concentrate, it may endanger the safety of students.
Solution
As students’ safety during travel is the drivers’ responsibility, drivers’ safety is the responsibility of school authorities. Schools can conduct stress management programs for the drivers.
These programs should be recorded and evaluated frequently. Also, wellness programs will be helpful for them to rejuvenate before joining their duty. Schools should avoid overburdening drivers with multiple shifts and try acquiring new drivers.
Routing
Reducing the number of buses can be tiring for the drivers, but it can save a lot of fuel and other costs. It requires keeping the same halts on the routes and changing the order in which each stop is reached.
It may be difficult for drivers to do it manually, and if drivers fail to do so, it can increase the travel costs.
Keeping tracking on Students’ Health
The health of students is the priority for school administration. While students travel by bus, it becomes the drivers’ duty to take care of their body temperatures. It’s a challenge for them to record temperatures every day and keep students at a safe distance from each other.
Maintenance of Buses
We all know that it’s been several months since the school bus stopped operating. As a result, school buses might need a high level of maintenance. It’s essential to thoroughly check every part, from the hygiene, braking system to seat covers and seat belts.
But the challenge here is that with tons of buses requiring maintenance and service, there might be only a few service stations. So, school bus drivers have to wait for a long time to get their bus service turn. It may also affect the timeline of joining their duties again.
How Can We Solve All these Challenges?
Driving a school bus comes with great accountability. The safety of small school going kids is in the hands of these drivers. But while taking care of students, drivers shouldn’t forget their health.
So, it’s important to keep calm while their work is in progress. The COVID is a testing time for all of us, and if someone is restarting their work, it needs a lot of motivation to carry it out successfully.
We have already provided a solution for maintaining the health issues of school drivers. Now, for the other challenges, a consolidated approach is using a school bus tracking software. This software is equipped with multiple features such as:
Route Optimization
The software will manage all the data regarding the student’s geocoded address points, travel constraints, best available routes, turn restrictions by bus size, estimated traffic, the school timings, and enable you to choose the option you consider the most prominent.
Temperature Logging
These features helps record the real-time temperature of the students while they board the bus. The driver can also log their temperature as a safety measure.
Real-time tracking
The GPS tracking feature helps parents be in the loop for the exact location of the bus. They can hence, ensure that the child is ready before the bus arrives so that they don’t have to wait unnecessarily in this risky time. This results in significant time savings and maybe can help you ditch the traffic by a wafer-thin margin.
Conclusion,
Sooner or later, everyone has to accept this new normal. School authorities are also taking care of all the regulations before reopening the school. There is no denying that driver will be the backbone for the safety of school kids. So the challenges they face must be taken care of by the authorities.
Using a GPS based school bus tracking software is the best solution that can automatically do all the tasks and add to bus drivers’ health. A healthy driver will take care of all the safety aspects inside the bus, and parents can be in the peace of mind until their wards arrive home.
