Your school bus will have a yellow ABS malfunction lamp on the instrument panel if it is equipped with ABS. 

## 10.6.2 – How ABS Helps You 

When you brake hard on slippery surfaces in a vehicle without ABS, your wheels may lock up. When your steering wheels lock up, you lose steering control. When your other wheels lock up, you may skid or even spin the vehicle. 

ABS helps you avoid wheel lock up and maintain control. You may or may not be able to stop faster with ABS, but you should be able to steer around an obstacle while braking, and avoid skids caused by over braking. 

## 10.6.3 – Braking with ABS 

When you drive a vehicle with ABS, you should brake as you always have. In other words: 

• Use only the braking force necessary to stop safely and stay in control. 

• Brake the same way, regardless of whether you have ABS on the bus. However, in emergency braking, do not pump the brakes on a bus with ABS. 

• As you slow down, monitor your bus and back off the brakes (if it is safe to do so) to stay in control. 

## 10.6.4 – Braking if ABS is Not Working 

Without ABS, you still have normal brake functions. Drive and brake as you always have. 

Vehicles with ABS have yellow malfunction lamps to tell you if something is not working. The yellow ABS malfunction lamp is on the bus’s instrument panel. 

As a system check on newer vehicles, the malfunction lamp comes on at start-up for a bulb check and then goes out quickly. On older systems, the lamp could stay on until you are driving over five mph. 

If the lamp stays on after the bulb check, or goes on once you are under way, you may have lost ABS control at one or more wheels. 

Remember, if your ABS malfunctions, you still have regular brakes. Drive normally, but get the system serviced soon. 

## 10.6.5 – Safety Reminders 

• ABS won’t allow you to drive faster, follow more closely, or drive less carefully. 

• ABS won’t prevent power or turning skids–ABS should prevent brake-induced skids but not those caused by spinning the drive wheels or going too fast in a turn. 

• ABS won’t necessarily shorten stopping distance. ABS will help maintain vehicle control, but not always shorten stopping distance. 

• ABS won’t increase or decrease ultimate stopping power–ABS is an “add-on” to your normal brakes, not a replacement for them. 

• ABS won’t change the way you normally brake. Under normal brake conditions, your vehicle will stop as it always stopped. ABS only comes into play when a wheel would normally have locked up because of over braking. 

• ABS won’t compensate for bad brakes or poor brake maintenance. 

• Remember: The best vehicle safety feature is still a safe driver. 

• Remember: Drive so you never need to use your ABS. 

• Remember: If you need it, ABS could help to prevent a serious crash. 

## 10.7 – Special Safety Considerations 

## 10.7.1 – Strobe Lights 

Some school buses are equipped with roof- mounted, white strobe lights. If your bus is so equipped, the overhead strobe light should be used when you have limited visibility. This means that you cannot easily see around you – in front, behind, or beside the school bus. Your visibility could be only slightly limited or it could be so bad that you can see nothing at all. In all instances, understand and obey your state or local regulations concerning the use of these lights. 

## 10.7.2 – Driving in High Winds 

Strong winds affect the handling of the school bus! The side of a school bus acts like a sail on a sailboat. Strong winds can push the school bus sideways. They can even move the school bus off the road or, in extreme conditions, tip it over. 

If you are caught in strong winds: 

• Keep a strong grip on the steering wheel. Try to anticipate gusts. 

• You should slow down to lessen the effect of the wind, or pull off the roadway and wait. 

• Contact your dispatcher to get more information on how to proceed. 

