Why school buses are painted in yellow color

Cars, bikes including government vehicles are colorfully painted, except school buses. All the school buses or vans are painted in yellow color, isn’t it?

As per Rule 178 of Karnataka Motor Vehicles Rules, 1978 all vehicles registered in the name of an education institution shall be painted in highway yellow colour and the words ‘School Bus’ or College bus  as the case may be, shall be written in a dark colour paint  on all four sides of the vehicle. Further, Supreme Court issued guidelines for school bus services.

Based on Supreme Court directive, Karnataka Transport department issued a Notification during last year. Some of the guidelines are –

• School cabs have to be painted in highway yellow color with a horizontal strip of green color of 150 mm width in the  middle all around the vehicle
• If age of school children is below 12 years, the number of children carried shall not exceed 1½ times the permitted seating capacity. Children above 12 years shall be treated as one person
• The driver of a school cab must have valid licence to drive LMV-Transport Vehicles for a period of at least four years and compulsorily wear a light blue shirt, light blue trousers and black shoes. His ID is to be displayed on the shirt
• There must be enough space provided to keep school bags inside the vehicle and the bags should not be hung outside the vehicle or placed on roof carriers
• The bus driver must carry a complete list of the children being ferried in the school cab indicating the name, class, residential address, blood group and the points of stoppage, route plan etc
• In case of kindergarten, if an authorized person recognized mutually by the school and parents, does not come to pick the child from the halting points, the child shall be taken back to the school and their parents should be called.

The last question, before I conclude this article – why only yellow color? Why not red?

• The color was chosen because it attracts attention and is noticed quickly in peripheral vision, faster than any other color. As per doctors Lateral peripheral vision for detecting yellows is 1.24 times greater than for red. School buses in USA and Canada are also painted in yellow color.

Thought for the day

 If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.

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