Bus Safety Week, running from 17 to 23 February, is a road safety initiative reminding all road users how to stay safe on and around buses.
With Term 1 now underway for local schools, it is also a timely reminder to motorists, parents and pedestrians that school buses are back on the region’s roads following the summer holidays.
Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council (CGRC) is supporting Bus Safety Awareness Week and the Be Bus Aware campaign by hosting a colouring-in competition for children aged three to twelve years. Posters will be distributed through local schools and will also be available on Council’s website at www.cgrc.nsw.gov.au/be-bus-aware-2. Local artist Dianne Berkrey created the drawing. Prizes will be awarded across three age groups, with participants encouraged to include a bus safety message on their entry.
A visit by a local bus operator to the Cootamundra and Gundagai Libraries has also been organised, featuring a free sausage sizzle and important road safety messages. These events will take place in Cootamundra on Wednesday 18 February and Gundagai on Thursday 19 February, from 11am.
CGRC Mayor Abb McAlister said the initiatives are an important way to reinforce road safety messages across the community.
“We continually need to educate our youngsters—and not-so-young—about road safety and being safe around large, heavy vehicles. Buses take a long time to stop and have significant blind spots.
The statistics from Transport for New South Wales relating to bus incidents are alarming.
Between 2020 and 2024, there were 40 fatalities from bus crashes (including minibuses) in NSW. Of these, 9 were pedestrians, 9 drivers of other vehicles, 5 motorcyclists, 4 bus drivers, 2 passengers of other vehicles, and 11 bus passengers.
During the same period, 236 people were seriously injured in crashes involving buses in NSW, including 12 bus drivers, 88 other motor vehicle drivers, 50 bus passengers, 18 other vehicle passengers, 43 pedestrians, 15 motorcycle riders and 10 pedal cyclists.”
All entries in the Bruce the Bus colouring-in competition must be submitted by Friday 20 February 2026.
Entries can be delivered to Council’s administration offices in Cootamundra or Gundagai or emailed to mail@cgrc.nsw.gov.au. Emailed entries should include “Bus Colouring In” in the subject line and list the entrant’s name, age and contact details, along with a bus safety message.
Mayor McAlister will judge the competition following the closing date, with prizes awarded in each age group
Picture and caption:
A colouring competition to highlight Bus Safety Awareness Week is now open to all children aged between 3 and 12 years. Entries can be obtained at Council Administration offices, Libraries, local schools or online at
www.cgrc.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Bruce-the-Bus-Colouring-Competition-Feb-2026.pdf
