was an 18-year-old San Jose State football player who was hit by a school bus while riding an electric scooter. The other two were results of either illegal passing, such as in Gurney’s case, or when a middle school student in Florida was hit and killed by a motorist while waiting for his school bus. The most recent National School Bus Loading and Unloading Survey admin- istered by the Kansas Department of Education for the 2021-2022 school year cites four fatalities caused by school buses. Two were attributed to other ve- hicles. The 2022-2023 data is expected to be released in November at the National State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services conference in Washington, D.C.. Plus, in June, the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published its latest Traffic Safety Facts, which includes School-Transportation Related Crashes from 2012 to 2021. The agency reported on similar findings, stat- ing that there was 1.6 times more fatalities among pedestrians (183) than occupants of school transportation vehicles (113) during the period studied. Out of the 113 occupants killed in school transportation vehicles, 52 were drivers and 61 were passengers. NHTSA said an average of 111 fatalities
per year (for a total of 1,110 fatalities) occur in school-transportation related crashes, 70 percent of which were occupants of other vehicles. When looking at the 206 school-age
children who died in school transpor- tation related crashes from 2012-2021, NHTSA stated that 42 were occupants of school transportation vehicles, 80 were occupants of other vehicles, 78 were pedestrians, five were bicyclists, and one was described as “other.” NHTSA also found that of all the school-age pedes- trians killed in school transportation related crashes, 19 percent were struck by a school transportation vehicle that was traveling along a straight road. The infor-
mation was compiled based on data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Fischer, as he reiterated to STN for this
article and told attendees during STN EXPO Indianapolis in June, said driver education and lack of compliance with section 10 of the Commercial Driver’s License manual used by all 50 states are driving factors in these deaths. School bus drivers are at fault for far too many fatalities, he noted, and the driver short- age could be forcing the drivers that are on staff to take on more routes, encour- aging a sped up pick up and drop off routine that could result in tragedy. However, research indicates more
students are injured when traveling in a school bus than when navigating the Danger Zone around school bus stops. And while Danger Zone safety should remain a priority, a greater emphasis should be place on ensuring passenger safety inside the school bus.
Diving Into Injuries Just last month, 11 students were in-
jured in Idaho after their activity bus was involved in a rollover crash. Seven teens were reportedly in critical condition. Yet school bus injury data is far and few between. In November 2006, the journal Pe-
diatrics published the report “School Bus–Related Injuries Among Children and Teenagers in the United States, 2001-2003,” which examined nonfa- tal school bus-related injuries among children and teenagers. The report found that 51,100 school bus–related injuries were treated in U.S emergen- cy rooms from 2001 through 2003, or 17,000 injuries annually nationwide, with motor vehicle crash as the most frequent injury mechanism (42.3 percent) for all age groups. Injuries that occurred as the child was boarding, exiting or approach- ing the bus were almost half that amount at 23.8 percent. Ninety-seven percent of children were
View the full NHTSA Crash Stats report on school buses at
stnonline.com/go/h0
www.stnonline.com 15
Out of the 206 school-age children who died in school transportation related crashes from 2012- 2021, NHTSA stated that 42 were occupants of school transportation vehicles, 80 were occupants of other vehicles, 78 were
pedestrians, 5 were bicyclists, and 1 was described as “other.”
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