Every year, twice as many schoolchildren perish as pedestrians (12) in school transportation-related traffic accidents compared to those who are passengers (5) on student transportation vehicles, according to a newly released report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The National Center for Statistics and Analysis compiled the four-page report, “School Transportation-Related Crashes,” which is part of NHTSA’s Traffic Safety Facts series.
From 2002 to 2011, among the 95 occupants killed in school transportation vehicles, 54 were student passengers and 41 were school bus drivers. Since 2002 there have been 355,834 fatal motor-vehicle traffic crashes, with three-tenths of one percent (1,221) classified as school transportation-related.
This type of crash is defined in the report as one that involves, either directly or indirectly, a school bus body vehicle or a non-bus functioning as a yellow bus, transporting children to or from school or school-related activities.
“Impacts to the front of the school transportation vehicle occurred in 48 percent of fatal school-transportation-related crashes, and impacts to the right side of the school transportation vehicle occurred in 15 percent (of cases),” stated the report.
Since 2002, 123 pedestrians aged 19 years or younger have died in school transportation-related crashes. Sixty-six percent were hit and killed by school buses, six percent by vehicles functioning as school buses and 28 percent by other vehicles involved in the crashes.
Annually, NHTSA reports an average of nine school-aged pedestrians killed by student transportation vehicles and four by other vehicles. These fatalities most often occurred during high-traffic periods around schools: between 7 and 8 a.m. and 3 and 4 p.m.
STN research, gleaned from tracking national wire reports, showed that 15 student pedestrians died in school transportation-related crashes in the 2011-2012 school year, with three of them struck by a school bus. A dozen were hit by passing motorists around schools or bus stops, with most incidents occurring at bus stops.
