page_title: School bus
section_title: 1970s
hierarchical_section_title: School bus / Design history / 1970s
caption_attribution_description: "A quick peek at Toronto on a hectic day in June 1979." The view appears to be from Front Street West, across the former rail lands (which were used for surface parking, and eventually redeveloped), towards the intersection of Simcoe Street and Wellington Street West (the brown building, since reclad, still sits on the northeast corner of Wellington and Simcoe). The school bus, belonging to the Essex County Roman Catholic Separate School Board, has a 72-passenger Wayne Lifeguard body on a 1973-1979 Ford B700 chassis. Camera: Olympus Pen F Half Frame SLR.
context_page_description: A school bus is a type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus. Various configurations of school buses are used worldwide; the most iconic examples are the yellow school buses of the United States and Canada which are also found in other parts of the world.
  In North America, school buses are purpose-built vehicles distinguished from other types of buses by design characteristics mandated by federal and state/province regulations. In addition to their distinct paint color, school buses are fitted with exterior warning lights and multiple safety devices.
context_section_description: During the 1970s, school buses would undergo a number of design upgrades related to safety. While many changes were related to protecting passengers, others were intended to minimizing the chances of traffic collisions. To decrease confusion over traffic priority (increasing safety around school bus stops), federal and state regulations were amended, requiring for many states/provinces to add amber warning lamps inboard of the red warning lamps. Similar to a yellow traffic light, the amber lights are activated before stopping (at 100–300 feet (30.5–91.4 m) distance), indicating to drivers that a school bus is about to stop and unload/load students. Adopted by a number of states during the mid-1970s, amber warning lights became nearly universal equipment on new school buses by the end of the 1980s. To supplement the additional warning lights and to help prevent drivers from passing a stopped school bus, a stop arm was added to nearly all school buses; connected to the wiring of the warning lights, the deployable stop arm extended during a bus stop with its own set of red flashing lights.
  In the 1970s, school busing expanded further, under controversial reasons; a number of larger cities began to bus students in an effort to racially integrate schools. Out of necessity, the additional usage created further demand for bus production.
caption: 1970s Wayne Lifeguard
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