1995 Safety Data

U.S. Department of Transportation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

A school bus-related crash is a crash which involves, either directly or indirectly, a school bus-type vehicle, or a vehicle functioning as a school bus, transporting children to or from school or school-related activities.

Since 1985 there have been about 426,000 fatal traffic crashes. Less than 0.3 percent were classified as school bus-related.

Since 1985, 1,478 people have died in school bus-related crashes--an average of 134 fatalities per year. Most of the people who lost their lives in those crashes (60 percent) were occupants of other vehicles involved. Nonoccupants (pedestrians, bicyclists, etc.) accounted for 30 percent of the deaths, and school bus occupants accounted for 11 percent (drivers 2 percent, passengers 9 percent).

Since 1985, 300 school-age pedestrians (less than 19 years old) have died in school bus-related crashes. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) were killed by school buses, 5 percent by vehicles functioning as school buses, and 32 percent by other vehicles involved in the crashes. Half of all school-age pedestrians killed in school bus-related crashes were between the ages of 5 and 7.

On average, 19 school-age pedestrians are killed by school buses (or vehicles used as school buses) each year, and 9 are killed by other vehicles involved in school bus-related crashes.

More school-age pedestrians are killed in the afternoon than in the morning, with 43 percent of the fatalities occurring in crashes between 3:00 and 4:00 PM.

Between 1985 and 1995, 95 crashes occurred in which at least one occupant of a school bus or a vehicle functioning as a school bus died. The majority of those crashes (53 percent) involved another vehicle. In the 45 single-vehicle crashes, 62 occupants--14 drivers and 48 passengers--were killed. In the 50 multiple-vehicle crashes, 14 drivers and 80 passengers died. In the 45 single-vehicle crashes, the first harmful events were as follows: striking a fixed object (28 crashes), the vehicle overturning (6 crashes), a person falling from the vehicle (9 crashes), and the vehicle colliding with a train (2 crashes).

In 42 percent of all crashes involving fatalities to occupants of a school bus or vehicle used as a school bus, the principal point of impact was the front of the vehicle.

Since 1985, 4 drivers and 41 passengers have died in school buses providing transportation for purposes other than school or school-related activities (churches, civic organizations, etc.). In one such multi-vehicle crash, 27 occupants, including the driver, died.