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SALT LAKE CITY -- How safe are school buses your children ride? That depends on what you mean by safe.
The American Public Health Association notes that, “Yearly in the United States, 440,000 school buses transport 24 million students to and from schools. Collectively these buses travel 4.3 billion miles daily, with only one adult to get them to their destination safely.”
In a 2009 report the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated, “On average, over the past 11 years, school buses have been involved in over 26,000 crashes, resulting in less than 1,000 incapacitating injuries and slightly more than 7,000 non-incapacitating injuries and possible injuries to passengers.” From that same NHTSA report, of the 414,399 reported motor vehicle fatalities in the same 11-year time frame, less than one-third of 1 percent were school transportation-related. From a vehicular safety standpoint, it doesn’t get any better.
On average, over the past 11 years, school buses have been involved in over 26,000 crashes, resulting in less than 1,000 incapacitating injuries and slightly more than 7,000 non-incapacitating injuries and possible injuries to passengers. -- NHTSA report
While there is some dispute as to the accuracy of the specific numbers, there is little dispute as to the conclusion: A school bus is the safest way for a student to get to school. Again from a vehicular safety stand point, it doesn’t get any better.
But with as many as 70 students of varying ages on a bus for as much as an hour, what is the ride home like? A school bus can be a very confined environment where the riders are stuck with each other inside a rolling metal tube. There is limited space, making it much more difficult to avoid a bully.
The Eastern Kentucky University School Bus Project looked at this very issue in the light of the current focus on bullying in schools. The Project staff finds that “today’s school bus drivers tend to confront behavior problems that surpass anything encountered by even the most seasoned teacher.” The study further notes, “Bus drivers transport in one bus at least twice the number of students who normally cram into a classroom, yet drivers have to deal with disrupters and problem behaviors while they have the much greater responsibility of driving the bus.”
The magnitude of the issue is difficult to quantif,y and most data is anecdotal. An incident on a school bus and an incident in a school are likely to end up in the same category for reporting purposes. It does seem likely, however, that this issue is contributing to the rising number of parents driving their children to school.
The APHA white paper titled “No Bullies on Board: Putting the Brakes on School Bus Bullying” has a great deal to say on the subject of bullying and school buses. From the study: “In recent years there has been a sharp increase in violence on school buses. Not only are students inflicting harm verbally, physically, emotionally and sexually on one another, but there is also an increase in bus incidents involving parents.”
So what can school districts and transportation contractors do to address the problem? The APHA makes several recommendations. Here are just a few.
- Create immediate and consistent consequences for misbehavior.
- Post rules prominently on buses.
- Praise and reward appropriate behavior.
- Consider another adult on the bus.
- Have parents become involved. Use of appropriate technology can also have a major impact. The camera system on many school buses is outdated and can be worse than no system at all. Newer multi-camera systems will provide a viable record to use as a basis for the application of the “immediate and consistent consequences.” Systems of this type will provide a valuable deterrent, as well. The key for your child is to determine where your school transportation system is in this process. Like any organization, some are better than others. Talk to other parents who have students riding the bus. Arrange a meeting with school officials. Ask for copies of the policies and procedures in use in your transportation system. Consider riding your child’s bus on occasion.
With the right components in place, a school bus is the safest way to get a student to school. To read the APHA report, visit www.apha.org.
Guy is a longtime educator, having taught and coached tennis and swimming. He is school safety and security administrator for the Bonneville School District in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Guy has been married for 26 years and has three children.
