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Safety First
DID YOU KNOW....that almost 40% of all the
fatalities in and around the loading and unloading of school buses are directly related to
the public’s attitude toward a stopped bus? If you see a stopped school bus with the
red lights flashing, please stop.
- School bus transportation infrastructure is
the largest system of ground transportation in the United States.
- 54% of all K-12 students in the U.S. ride
school buses to school in the morning.
- Over 400,000 yellow school buses are on the
streets every school day and nearly 25 million students board and deboard these buses
every day.
- The National Transportation Safety Board
found there is no positive benefit to seat belts on school buses and that school buses
with compartmentalization provide extremely safe transportation to students without the
need for seat belts.
- There are more than 100 Federal, state,
provincial and local government agencies and industry associations involved with school
transportation in the United States and Canada.
- As recently as 12 years ago, there were no
federal regulations with respect to the licensing requirements for school bus drivers. In
1986 congress passed the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act which required all states to
significantly modify their existing licensing, testing and background requirements for all
commercial drivers which included school bus drivers. For anyone who wants to drive a
school bus (one that seats more than 16 passengers) he must possess a valid Commercial
Driver License (CDL).
- On average, approximately 4% of the yearly
cost of educating your child is spent on pupil transportation.
- The U.S. Department of Transportation
requires school buses manufactured after April 1, 1977 to be equipped with a metal cage
designed to protect the fuel tank in a direct 30 mph collision by a two ton vehicle.
- Statistically, the yellow school bus is 172
times safer than a passenger automobile.
- The National Safety Council calls the school
bus the safest form of ground transportation in the United States.
According to the National Safety Council in
1996, here is a comparitive chart showing the risk of death to a passenger in the
following transportation modes. This study was conducted in the United States in 1994 on
the transportation death rate per 100 million passenger miles traveled.
Vehicle Safety Comparison Chart
| Passenger Automobiles |
0.86 (a school
bus is 172 times safer) |
| Railroad Passenger trains |
0.04
(a school bus is 8 times safer) |
| Scheduled airlines |
0.04 ( a school
bus is 8 times safer) |
| Transit Buses |
0.02
(a school bus is 4 times safer) |
| Intercity Buses |
0.02
(a school bus is 4 times safer) |
| School Buses |
Less than 0.005 |
“We Move Virginia’s Students Safely.”
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