School Bus Transportation News at STN Media

Stirring the Pot:
How Minor Are Minor Accidents?

Jim Ellis, Contributing Editor

A key indicator of a school transportation operation's level of safety is how "minor" accidents are handled.

In major crashes, in which significant damage or injuries have occurred, the need for thorough investigation and documentation is self-evident (although far from universal in our industry). But in the pressure cooker environment of the typical school transportation department, less severe incidents are often regarded as not important enough to warrant the time and energy for a decent investigation.

Worse, some supervisors fool themselves into believing that ignoring broken mirrors pays off by keeping peace with drivers. Actually, sweeping "minor" accidents under the rug contributes to a climate of collective low self-esteem that undermines safety in the long run. Driver professionalism relies on a culture of accountability. Drivers should understand they will be held accountable for every incident, including fender benders and bus yard "mystery dings." In my experience, high safety standards, so long as they are fairly and consistently applied, improve driver morale.

In fact, the terms "major accident" and "minor accident" are dangerously simplistic. In common usage, the terms usually describe the difference in the outcomes of an accident. But if accidents are looked at in terms of contributing factors, the difference between a "major" and "minor" accident is usually much harder to detect. Exactly the same set of contributing factors can result in two events with profoundly different outcomes. A driver who scrapes a pole during a turn one day, resulting in nothing more than a scraped rub rail, may knock down a pedestrian next time. The identical driving error, lapse of concentration, risk-taking attitude, or training gap can result in a scratched bumper or a fatality. In reality, the main difference between "minor" and "major" accidents is usually little more than luck.

The main reason to take minor accidents seriously is to prevent major accidents. Rather than ignoring them, professional operations treat a minor incident as a valuable gift. A single minor accident can reveal a serious safety problem for an individual driver. At the macro level, charted over time minor accidents can reveal important patterns and serious operational safety problems.

A failure to treat minor accidents professionally also exposes an operation to radically increased liability. "Foreseeability" is a dreaded word for a defendant in civil court. If an attorney can show a pattern of uncorrected "minor" incidents that led up to the major calamity that resulted in the lawsuit, the defendant school district or bus company may just as well get out the checkbook then and there.

I am not advocating firing every driver who breaks a mirror. No drivers are perfect, and those who think they are should scare us. But in my view, every school bus accident or injury resulting in property damage or injury to any party, regardless of how "minor," should be documented and assessed for preventability according to a clear and consistent set of procedures and policies. Appropriate follow-up should take place after every preventable event, regardless of its severity. Effective retraining after each and every preventable accident ultimately protects everyone - the driver, the operation, and most importantly, the kids.

Ellis is the former director of Research & Instructional Design for the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute. He is currently the transportation director for Moravia , N.Y., Central School District and can be reached at elsink@adelphia.net.