NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System is estimating an almost 9 percent decrease in fatalities during 2009, which will hopefully be mirrored in school-bus-specific data that will be extrapolated later this year.
Although the numbers are not a final assessment of the number of vehicle-related fatalities in the U.S., the numbers are showing a decline over the 2008 data. Deaths are down 8.9 percent to 33,963 in 2009 from from 37,261 in the previous year. The fatality rate per 100 million vehicles miles of travel also fell to 1.16 from 1.25.
What hasn’t changed, according to the data, is the time period during which the highest number of deaths occurred. In the third quarter, from July to September, there were 9,155 deaths, which is still 7.5 percent lower than 2008. But is was still the highest quarter by almost 200 fatalities.
Comparatively, the 2007-2008 school year saw six student fatalities in crashes involving school buses during normal morning and afternoon commute times. That's compared to 368 student fatalities during the same time periods occurring in other passenger vehicles, according to data extrapolated by consultant Doug Snyder for the California Association of School Transportation Officials from overall NHTSA FARS data for all vehicles at all times of day.
Last month, the Kansas State Department of Education released its annual National School Bus Loading and Unloading Survey found that 11 states reported a total of 17 deaths during the 2008-2009 school year.