FIRST TAKE Each year since NHTSA promulgated the first school bus vehicle standards in 1977, student
transporters have increasingly heralded the inherent safety of the American yellow bus. Certainly this safety record trumps that of China’s, which is reeling from a horrific tragedy in No-
vember, when a nine-passenger school van crammed with 62 kindergarten students collided head on with a work truck. Twenty-one of the children died as did the van driver and a teacher, and the remaining students all suffered serious injuries. Tat incident shows the most obvious differences between student transportation in the U.S.
A New Year’s
Challenge and Opportunity By Ryan Gray
ryan@stnonline.com
and in many other countries around the world. Of the approximately 33,000 passenger fatalities that occurred in 2010 during vehicle crashes nationwide (a significant decrease over subsequent years, according to NHTSA), a half-dozen fatalities occurred in school buses. Results from the annual National School Bus Loading and Unloading Survey released last month
were more welcome news, as they show a decrease in student fatalities in the school bus “Dan- ger Zone” to eight during the 2010-2011 school year (see story on page 20). For the past several decades, especially since 1970, when the first national loading/unloading survey found that 75 stu- dents died, student transportation has grown safer and safer. Tis is due in large part to the 37 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards that apply specifically to school buses. Some half-million school bus drivers and the training they receive also play vital roles, along
with technology in the forms of routing optimization, GPS, school bus video and the like that are designed to increase efficiency and enhance safety oversight. Tis extends to the school bus garage, where technicians strive to keep the vehicles in safe operating condition. But can more be done? Definitely. Tis month, Associate Editor Sylvia Arroyo compares the official industry fatality counts of the
loading/unloading survey compiled by the Kansas State Department of Education with the larger number of incidents reported by local media outlets. While it is important to trumpet daily suc- cesses to the masses, the industry should be wary of beating its chest too loudly, as parental focus groups advised the American School Bus Council last summer. Fewer fatalities during the 2010- 2011 school year is good news, but what about the average of five onboard student deaths and another 15 in the “Danger Zone” over the past decade? Try citing those statistics to a parent who has lost a child — hopefully you will never have to. We posted an article in November on
STNonline.com shortly after the China crash that of-
fered an opportunity to the North American community to be a leader in sharing with China the benefits and brain trust of yellow bus safety. Yet, a well-known safety consultant to the industry re- minds us it wasn’t that long ago that there were far too many fatalities in the U.S. Twenty years ago, almost to the day, a 16-passenger Head Start van crashed and a resulting fire killed five students and injured 11. Tere were 32 passengers packed into that vehicle. While not nearly as egregious or devastating as the crash in China’s rural Gansu province, where
lifestyles can more readily mirror those of the 16th century than the 21st, it’s a stark reminder of how far the U.S. student transportation industry has come — and where it still needs to head. Speak to student transportation experts in the U.K., for example, and they will share with you their shock that many operations here allow students to cross the street to and from the bus stop, some- thing unheard of across the Atlantic. During his induction into the NAPT Hall of Fame last October, STN Editor Emeritus Bill Paul chal-
lenged the industry to achieve zero student fatalities. Tis is the subject of his commentary on page 58. While attainable, is it unrealistic to also realize zero student injuries? Perhaps, as thousands (of- ficially more than 8,000 according to NHTSA, but the figure could be twice that based on research by the American Academy of Pediatrics) occur each year for a variety of reasons. But while one student death in a crash is certainly one too many, we must not forget those children who live with sometimes debilitating, life-altering injuries. On one hand, China reminds us of the inherent safety of school bus operations in the North Amer-
ica, but on the other, it should also challenge the industry to work even harder for the safety of our schoolchildren, despite continuing economic burdens. Tat could be a great opportunity in 2012. ■
14 School Transportation News Magazine January 2012
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