ANALYSIS The National Count Te National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services released the
results of its second annual Stop Arm Violation Count. Compared with the first count in 2011, violation incidents and the number of passing vehicles both increased. It is probably not enough of an increase, statistically speaking, to say that the problem
By Derek Graham
is getting worse, but it is certainly of a magnitude that NASDPTS has documented this as a continuing national problem. Tis is not a revolutionary breakthrough to those of us in the business, but to those out-
side pupil transportation, the numbers seem staggering. It is amazing that more students aren’t injured or killed by motorists who are not paying attention.
THE COUNT NASDPTS has long recognized the extent of the safety problem posed by motorists il-
legally passing stopped school buses. During a roundtable discussion at the association’s 2010 conference, it passed a resolution encouraging each state to conduct a one-day count. Charlie Hood, state director of Florida, and I were tasked with implementing this project. Recognizing that there are different organizational models in various states, NASDPTS
wanted the count to be user-friendly. Te count could be coordinated by the state of- fice and totals entered into a state-level SurveyMonkey database. Tose of us already administering a statewide count chose this option. But there was also a “grass roots” op- tion whereby individual school districts or contractors could conduct their count and then enter the data into a local-level SurveyMonkey database. Many states in the NASDPTS Midwest region (Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota and Missouri, among others) chose this method. Reports were received from 28 states, just like last year, although it was not the same 28 states that participated this year. Some new ones joined in and some opted out.
THE RESULTS When all of the data were compiled, nearly 100,000 school buses participated in the
2012 count, reporting nearly 40,000 incidents and more than 88,000 vehicles that illegally passed stopped school buses on a single day. Tat averages to more than two vehicles at each incident! If we figure that these 100,000 buses make up about 21 percent of the national fleet of 480,000 and we extrapolate that across an average 180-day school year, the data point to more than 76 million vehicles illegally passing a stopped school bus each school year. Comparing this with 2011 data shows consistency, validating the results and solidifying
our contention that the safety of students is compromised each and every day when mo- torists do not heed the stop sign.
One-Day Count Results States Participating: Buses Participating:
Number of Incidents Reported: Number of Vehicles Passing:
2011 28
111,914 37,756 76,685
2012 28
99,930 39,760 88,025
Te percentage of vehicles passing in the morning/mid-day/afternoon as well as the
percentage of vehicles passing from the front and rear was similar from 2011 to 2012. Te percentage of vehicles reported passing on the RIGHT SIDE of the bus decreased from 3.1 percent to 2 percent. However, ANY violation on the side of the bus where students enter or exit is especially alarming.
50 School Transportation News Magazine September 2012
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