Evaluation of Fatal School Bus Related Crashes and Associated Crash Characteristics

School bus crashes are rare in comparison to other crash types, but considering all crashes that are in and around school buses, they begin to become a noticeable problem and one that tends to attract national attention. As defined by the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), a school bus related crash is a crash that either involves a school bus or the presence of a school bus is considered as a major contributing factor. Ten years of data indicate that the number of fatal school bus related crashes has remained nearly stagnant, despite an increase in the number vehicle safety systems on the market. The findings also highlight the importance of protecting the non-bus occupants since they are the most likely to incur a serious or fatal injury. As the most vulnerable user group, pedestrians (typically school-aged children) are especially at risk when crossing the road while boarding or exiting a school bus. Although the FARS data provides a reliable basis for fatal crashes, more data is needed to fill in the gaps of the less severe, but more prevalent, injury and property damage only crashes. Once the less severe crashes are able to be quantified and further defined, steps to reduce the number of school bus related crashes can be identified.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANB10(6) School Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Donoughe, Kelly
  • Katz, Bryan
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 16p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus crashes; Crash characteristics; Crash data; Data analysis; Fatalities; Pedestrian safety; School buses; School children
• Identifier Terms: Fatality Analysis Reporting System
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I80: Accident Studies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01519004
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-3424
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 21 2014 11:27AM