National Bus Loading/Unloading Report Shows The Importance of Danger Zone Safety

As more people are being made aware of the high rates of stop-arm violations across the country, a new report shows the importance of following bus safety laws near loading or unloading buses. The Kansas State Department of Education compiles a yearly report of school bus danger zone fatalities and found that six students were killed in school bus danger zones in the 2013-14 school year.

Six students were killed by passing vehicles, and four were struck by their own school bus. The total of 10 fatalities in 2013-14 is a slight increase from the previous school year, which tallied nine deaths.

Of those struck and killed by their own school bus last school year, three were struck at the front of the bus, while the other was behind the vehicle.

The Kansas State Department of Education’s School Bus Safety Education Unit’s loading/unloading report collects data from fatality accident records provided by the state agencies responsible for school transportation safety and accident records across the nation. The list does not include onboard deaths.

School Bus Fleet highlighted some other key findings from the report include:

• Age: Five of the students who were killed (half of the total) were 6 years old. One of the students was 8, one was 9 and one was 14. Two were 17 years old.
• Gender: Seven male students and three female students were killed.
• Destination: Seven of the accidents were during the trip to school. The other three were on the trip home.
• Type of area: Eight of the fatalities occurred in urban locations. The other two were in rural areas.
• Light conditions: Five of the accidents were in daylight, three were in the dark and two were at dawn.
• Weather: In six of the accidents, weather conditions were described as clear. The other four were described, respectively, as cloudy, cloudy/raining, rain and fog.
• State: There were two fatalities each in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia. There was one fatality each in California, Utah, North Carolina and New Jersey. (It should be noted that New York state and Washington, D.C., did not respond to the survey.)

“Fatalities continue to occur at the bus stop, caused by a variety of circumstances and errors on the part of the school bus driver or passing motorist,” the report says. “It points out the continuing need for forceful, advanced instruction to school bus drivers and students, as well as the need to increase our efforts to thoroughly inform the driving public about the requirements of the school bus stop law.”