School Bus Safety Report

April 2007

Parents, do you know the safest way to take your child to school? You may be surprised to know that a ride on the big yellow school bus is 100 times safer than any other form of transportation for students. Taking the school bus is even safer for children than getting a ride to school with their parents, bicycling, or walking.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, over 1.5 million children rode the school bus in 2005 in Pennsylvania, and only one child died due to a school bus related accident. The student was struck as a pedestrian, not as a passenger, meaning that in 2005 there were no school bus passenger fatalities in the state. Nationally, fewer than eight children die per year as school bus passengers in traffic accidents.

This is not to say that school buses are virtually without danger. Early in 2007, a school bus north of Philadelphia struck 14 students and injured three onboard. Nearly 500 PA auto accidents involved school buses in 2005, with just over 600 injuries resulting. But the majority of fatalities from school bus traffic accidents are people in other vehicles or pedestrians, not the passengers of school buses.