STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT DATA

A LIMITED OVERVIEW OF THE SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT PROBLEM WAS OBTAINED THROUGH THE ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT DATA OBTAINED FROM TWENTY-FOUR STATES, SEVERAL CITIES, AND SELECTED OTHER SOURCES. ACCIDENT DATA WERE RECEIVED IN SUMMARY FORM FROM SOME STATES, ON COMPUTER TAPES FROM OTHERS, AND IN INDIVIDUAL ACCIDENT REPORTS FROM SIX STATES. THE PROGRAM, OF SHORT DURATION, WAS CONDUCTED TO OBTAIN AN UNSOPHISTICATED STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF SCHOOL BUS SAFETY ON A NATION WIDE BASIS. INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE VARIOUS SOURCES WAS SUMMARIZED AND ANALYZED TO LEARN SOMETHING OF THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE ACCIDENT CAUSES AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS, TO OBTAIN DETAILS OF THE ACCIDENT EVENTS, TO ESTIMATE ACCIDENT RATES, AND TO PIN POINT GAPS IN AVAILABLE SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT DATA. WITHIN THE LIMITATIONS OF THE DATA RECEIVED, CONCLUSIONS WERE MADE THAT THE ONBOARD BUS FATALITY RATE IS WELL BELOW THE NATIONAL AVERAGE OF ALL HIGHWAY VEHICLES COMBINED AND LEAVING THE BUS NUMEROUS INFORMATION GAPS WERE DISCOVERED. THESE INCLUDED PUPIL TRANSPORTATION ACCIDENT DATA FROM URBAN AREAS, INFORMATION REGARDING POST-CRASH EVENTS, DETAILS AS TO WHAT CAUSED INJURIES INSIDE THE BUS, AND DETAILS AS TO THE INTEGRITY OF THE BUS IN PROVIDING OCCUPANT PROTECTION DURING A CRASH. BECAUSE OF THE SHORTCOMINGS EXPERIENCED IN ANALYZING EXISTING RECORDS OF PAST ACCIDENTS, ADDITIONAL STUDIES OF SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENTS OVER A SPAN OF 1 SCHOOL YEAR ARE RECOMMENDED. SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS ARE SUBMITTED IN SECTION IV.I /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Rpt No Ar-655, 53 PP, 7 FIG, 17 TAB, 6 REF
• Corporate Authors:

  Southwest Research Institute

  6220 Culebra Road, P.O. Drawer 28510
  San Antonio, TX  United States  78228-0510
• Authors:
  • Hull, R W
  • Knebel, G W
• Publication Date: 1968-7-31

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash causes; Crash rates; Data analysis; Fatalities; Injuries; Mathematical analysis; Pedestrians; Postcrash phase; School buses; Traffic crashes
• Old TRIS Terms: Post-crash
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220802
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Nat Safety Council Safety Res Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 9 1970 12:00AM