How far in front of the school bus should students cross the road after being discharged?

THE 10-FOOT CROSSING RULE is a critical school bus safety standard. REASON FOR THE DISTANCE: The driver's primary mirror for monitoring crossing students is the cross-view or convex mirror mounted at the front corners of the bus; for a student to be visible in this mirror, they must be at least 10 feet (approximately 3 large steps or one bus width) away from the front of the bus; a student who crosses too close to the bumper passes through the driver's blind zone — the area directly in front of the bus that is invisible even with mirrors; DRIVER VERIFICATION REQUIREMENT: The driver must NOT release the brakes and move the bus until they can SEE the crossing student in the cross-view mirrors at or beyond the 10-foot point and the student has reached the shoulder or sidewalk on the far side of the road; STUDENT TRAINING: School bus drivers often teach students to extend their arm toward the bus — if they can touch the bus, they are too close; they must move far enough that they cannot touch the bus before crossing; FRONT CROSSING ONLY: Students should always cross in FRONT of the bus, never behind it — the area behind the bus is completely invisible to the driver and drivers of following vehicles cannot see students emerging from behind a stopped school bus.