NTSB Addresses Back to School Safety in Recent Webinar

August 27, 2024

Safety First written on desert road — Image provided by HopSkipDrive.

With schools starting up across the country, the National Transportation Safety Board brought together four panelists to discuss key safety considerations.

During a webinar on Aug. 21, NTSB staff highlighted pertinent safety recommendations and addressed crash investigations with the aim to educate listeners on safe transportation.

Topics emphasized during the webinar included occupant protection, school bus safety, equity, safety routes to school, pedestrian, bicyclist and e-scooter safety.

“Nearly 550,000 school buses are in operation in the U.S and every school today these buses transport more than 20 million students to and from school,” said Meg Sweeney, an NTSB project manager and accident investigator.

In 2021, she noted there were 42,939 total fatalities on our roadways, 108 of those occurring in school transportation related fatalities. Most of the fatalities were the occupants of other vehicles, while only eight occupants of school transportation vehicles such as large school buses were fatally injured in 2021.

This data supports the assertion that school buses are the safest mode of transportation for students during their school commute. This is due to bus driver training and federal vehicle construction standards. Despite this, there are always ways in which safety can be improved, stated Sweeney.

Sweeny also shared how over the years NTSB investigated several crash investigations and issued several recommendations to improve school bus safety in various ways. These recommendations include vehicle design and technology, such as lane departure warning and prevention systems. Another recommendation is occupant protection, namely lap/shoulder seatbelts, and ways to use passenger safety restraint systems to keep children within the compartmentalization of high-back, cushioned seats on school buses.

Kristin Poland, NTSB’s deputy director of highway, also discussed occupant protection. She added that for students to maintain consciousness during a crash and be able to self-evacuate, they need to be belted so they better protect their heads.

Another topic the panelists discussed was safety outside the bus.

“Children are more vulnerable when waiting at bus stops, loading or unloading,” said Brittany Rawlinson, a statistician and data and policy analyst for NTSB, adding that nearly all school-age pedestrian fatalities occurred during the hours when children would be transiting to and from school. NHTSA reported that nearly all school-age pedestrian fatalities from 2013 to 2022 occurred from 3 p.m. to 3:59 p.m. more than any other time.

NTHSA reported 198 school-age child fatalities in school transportation related crashes occurring from 2013 to 2022. About 1.5 times more of those fatalities occurred with pedestrians than occupants of school transportation vehicles, explained Rawlinson.

NTSB recommendations to government agencies and states include reducing speed limits that can increase the time available to motorists for reacting to hazards. Carpooling also reduce the number of vehicles in the school zone, always crossing students in crosswalks when available, utilizing designated off-street drop off and pick up locations, and enforcing laws that require all vehicles to stop when red school bus lights are flashing or when stop sign is extended.

The webinar ended with statistics, explaining how emergency departments have reported 13,557 injuries related to e-scooters from 2020 and 2021 with 67 percent of the injuries being in the head due to not wearing a helmet. Analysis on how over half of the 55 percent of school age pedestrians killed in school transportation related traffic crashes from 2013 to 2022 were five to ten year olds. Lastly, case reporting on different crashes in which there has been fatalities, as well as the belief that there is an urgent need for better safety measures beyond the bus.