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§ 156.3 Safety regulations for school bus drivers, monitors, attendants and pupils.

(f) Drills on school buses.

(1) The drills on school buses required by section 3623 of the Education Law shall include practice and instruction in the location, use and operation of the emergency door, fire extinguishers, first-aid equipment and windows as a means of escape in case of fire or accident. Drills shall also include instruction in safe boarding and exiting procedures with specific emphasis on when and how to approach, board, disembark, and move away from the bus after disembarking. Each drill shall include specific instructions for pupils to advance at least 10 feet in front of the bus before crossing the highway after disembarking. Each drill shall emphasize specific hazards encountered by children during snow, ice, rain, and other inclement weather, including but not necessarily limited to poor driver visibility, reduced vehicular control and reduced hearing. All such drills shall include instruction in the importance of orderly conduct by all school bus passengers with specific emphasis given to student discipline rules and regulations promulgated by each board of education. Such instruction and the conduct of the drills shall be given by a member or members of the teaching or pupil transportation staff. Pupils attending public and nonpublic schools who do not participate in the drills held pursuant to this paragraph shall also be provided drills on school buses, or as an alternative, shall be provided classroom instruction covering the content of such drills.

(2) A minimum of three such drills shall be held on each school bus during the school year, the first to be conducted during the first seven days of school, the second between November 1st and December 31st and the third between March 1st and April 30th.

(3) No drills shall be conducted when buses are on routes.

(4) The school authorities shall certify on the annual report to the State Education Department that their district has complied with this subdivision.

(g) Instruction on use of seat belts. In each school district in which pupils are transported on school buses equipped with seat safety belts, such district shall insure that all pupils who are transported on any school bus owned, leased or contracted for by the district or board of cooperative educational services shall receive instruction on the use of seat safety belts. Such instruction shall be provided at least three times each year to both public and nonpublic school pupils who are so transported and shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) proper fastening and release of seat safety belts;

(2) acceptable placement of seat safety belts on pupils;

(3) times at which the seat safety belts should be fastened and released; and

(4) acceptable placement of the seat safety belts when not in use.