EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PAVEMENT STENCIL IN PROMOTING SAFE BEHAVIOR AMONG ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL-CHILDREN BOARDING SCHOOL BUSES

Objective. The majority of school bus-related fatalities among childre n attending elementary school in the United States occur as children b oard or alight from buses. Injuries occur during boarding when childre n enter the street and are struck by buses or other vehicles. This stu dy evaluated the effectiveness of a stencil in the shape of a school b us applied to the pavement at a bus stop in improving safe behaviors a t bus stops. Specifically, we assessed the frequency of children runni ng toward the bus as it approached or entered the street. Methods. Ele mentary school bus stops with similar roadways, traffic profiles, and numbers of children boarding participated in the study. Stops were ran domly assigned to an intervention group, in which children were instru cted to remain within a safe area during boarding that was demarcated by a pavement stencil, or an education-only group, in which the safe a rea was demarcated by some existing environmental feature. Both groups received education about safe area was demarcated by some existing en vironmental feature. Both groups received education about safe boardin g procedures. Observers rated behavior at each stop daily for 5 consec utive weeks. Data were analyzed as bivariate odds of any unsafe behavi or in the education-only group. Results. One hundred forty-five observ ations from seven bus stops with stencils and 174 daily observations f rom six education-only stops were completed. Observations of children in the education-only group were twice as likely to show unsafe behavi or while waiting (odds ratio [OR], 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-3.6) and during boarding (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.2-3.9). ORs were sign ificantly higher in the education-only group for boys, girls, and chil dren in grades 1 through 6. When no adult was present, there was a gre ater likelihood of unsafe behavior among all children in the education -only group while waiting (OR, 16.1; 95% CT, 3.9-72.4) and during boar ding (OR, 15.0; 95% CI, 3.2-81.4). The presence of an adult at the sto p did not have an independent effect on behavior. Children at educatio n-only stops located on roadways with high traffic volume were more li kely LV engage ill unsafe behavior while waiting (OR, 8.0; 95% CI, 3.8 -17.3) and during boarding (OR, 4.9; 95% CI, 2.2-11.0). No differences were observed during boarding between stencil and education-only grou ps when 10 or more children were at the stops. Conclusion The pavement stencil, when accompanied by education about safe boarding, may repre sent a cost-effective approach to reducing unsafe behavior at bus stop s by children of elementary school age.