California CDL DMV Endorsement Bus 2

When exiting your vehicle during the basic vehicle control skills test, you must face the vehicle and maintain three points of contact at all times. If your testing vehicle is a bus, you must maintain contact with the handrail. Exiting the vehicle incorrectly may result in automatic failure of the basic control skills test.

Railroad crossings that do not have any kind of traffic control device are known as passive crossings. The decision to proceed across tracks at a passive crossing is entirely up to the driver.

If a student tries to retrieve a dropped object, they may disappear from the driver's line of sight. This is potentially very dangerous. Rather than retrieve dropped items themselves, students should move to a point of safety outside of the bus's danger zones, get the driver's attention, and wait for the driver to retrieve what has been dropped.

In most emergency or crisis situations, students will be safest and easiest to keep under control if they remain on the school bus. Generally, students should be kept on the bus as long as it does not expose them to unnecessary risks or injury.

When unloading students at a school, a bus driver must secure the bus by turning off the engine. If they must leave the driver's compartment, they should remove the key from the ignition. The driver must supervise the unloading process.

When inspecting a tractor/trailer coupling, look into the fifth wheel gap and make sure the locking jaws are fully closed around the kingpin.

When inspecting a trailer coupling, you should make sure the fifth wheel locking jaws are closed around the shank of the kingpin, not the head of the kingpin.

If your on-road driving test route does not include a railroad crossing, you may be asked to explain and demonstrate the proper railroad crossing procedures to the examiner at a simulated location.

A school bus driver should always approach bus stops slowly and cautiously.

Railroad crossings with control devices to regulate traffic are known as active crossings. Control devices may include regulators such as flashing red lights, warning bells, and gates. Drivers are required by law to follow instructions given by control devices.

Official school bus routes and stops are established by the local school district. Drivers should never change a stop location without the written approval of an appropriate district official.

If you are asked to alley dock, you should first pull past the alley and stop your vehicle in a position that is parallel to the outer boundary. From there, you should back your vehicle entirely into the alley parking area. Your vehicle should be parked in a straight position within the boundaries of the parking space.

Anti-Lock Braking Systems (ABS) help prevent brake lockup when driving on slippery surfaces. If a driver brakes too hard on a slippery surface, ABS makes it easier for the driver to maintain control of their vehicle. A vehicle equipped with ABS should be driven and braked in the same way as a vehicle without ABS.

Students should not occupy the back row of a school bus unless the bus is full. The closer to the front of a bus that students are seated, the safer they will be in the event of a rear-end collision. Students with special needs should sit near the driver.

A driver is allowed to exit their vehicle to check its position during any basic vehicle control skills test exercise. This action is called a "look." During the straight line backing exercise, a driver may not exceed one look. During any other exercise, a driver may not exceed two looks.

Properly adjusted crossover mirrors on a school bus should allow the driver to see the entire area in front of the bus, from the front bumper at ground level to a point where direct vision is possible. The mirrors should also display the right and left front tires touching the ground, as well as the area from the front of the bus to the service door.

Maneuvers that may be included in the basic vehicle control skills test include straight line backing, offset back/right parking, offset back/left parking, driver side parallel parking, conventional parallel parking, and alley docking.

During the on-road driving test, the examiner will be scoring you on specific driving maneuvers, as well as your general driving behavior.

When stopped at a railroad crossing while operating a school bus, do not rely only on signals to tell you if a train is approaching. You should silence all passengers, open the front door, and look and listen for trains. After a train has passed, you should check for another train approaching from either direction before you proceed across the tracks.

In most emergency or crisis situations, students on a school bus will be safer and more easily controlled if they are kept on the bus than if they are evacuated. However, if staying on a bus will expose the students to risk or injury, the bus driver should escort them to a safe location.