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April 28, 2005

School bus safety revisited

Following several school bus-related student deaths in recent days, such as this one Monday in Minneapolis, many are wondering if a disturbing trend is upon us. But in fact, nationwide, the number of schoolchildren hit and killed by school buses is small, reports the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Students on school buses are safe as well. "But if risk is an inevitable part of life, putting a child on a school bus is one of the less dangerous things a parent does," editorializes the Washington Post, following an ugly school bus-trash truck collision last week in nearby Arlington, Va., which killed two young school children: "The fatality rate for school buses is less than one-seventh that of regular passenger vehicles. This is a result of their sheer size and of design improvements, mandated by the federal government in 1977, that bolstered safety through what's called 'compartmentalization' — seats placed closer together, with padding and high backs to absorb the energy of a crash. In 2003, five children nationwide were killed riding on school buses; school bus crashes accounted for three-tenths of 1 percent of fatal crashes between 1992 and 2002. In short, it's safer to put your children on a school bus than to drive them yourself."

California will require use of "three point" restraints—across the shoulder safety belts—on every new school bus beginning in July. Will students wear them? And are they much of an answer anyway? An activist says they would save many lives. A school bus expert is not so sure, and says costs will be high to fit and maintain lap belt systems in school buses. Good piece on the issues involved here.

A bigger threat to students is other drivers. In the death of a student in the community of Oregon, Ohio, last month, the culprit was a car whose driver was talking on a cell phone. The car hit and killed the boy who had just stepped off a school bus, after the driver did not heed the bus's warning lights. School bus drivers know this is a common challenge: Drivers on the road who ignore the law and do not stop when buses load and unload children.

Oddly enough, school bus safety is a big issue right now in Australia and in China as well.

Posted April 28, 2005 12:00 AM