Bus Incidents Drive Questions of Safety

Parents send their kids to school on the bus every day hoping they will be safe, but with insane bus drivers and no rules, it could be more dangerous than one could imagine.

The school bus transports 24 million children to and from school. According to elitedecision.com, five kids were killed on the bus last year. Over 11 years, 71 children have been killed, but in 2004 alone, other vehicles have caused accidents that killed 31,693 people. School buses are known to be the safest transportation for students, but yet, there are still students that get killed every year. More students die when hit by a school bus or getting on or off one than riding one.

According to batonline.com, a Florida school bus sent 48 students to the hospital when a Chevrolet crashed into the bus. No students were seriously injured, but lack of seatbelts could have caused more damage.

42 percent of fatal accidents have shown that seatbelts have the greatest life-saving potential. Older buses don’t have seatbelts on them as they aren’t required to and this increases likelihood of injury. Larger buses are also not required to have seatbelts by the NHTSA and 80 percent of buses fit this category. “My bus doesn’t feel very safe,” says sophomore Myah Fuentes. “It’s overly packed and there are no seatbelts.” Two students from Texas, Ashley Brown, 16, and Alicia Bonura, 18, died from a school bus accident in 2006 due to no seatbelts on the bus.

Bus drivers can be one of the causes of bus accidents. In 2008-2009, there were 158 bus accidents, mostly caused by the driver. According to palmbeachschools.org, speeding is the number one cause of bus accidents. ”On January 1, 2013 the law was changed a bit so that buses are no longer required to stay at the speed limit of 55 mph,” says Charles Hood, director of the School of Transportation Department of Education. ”It was a change, but counties are still debating it. It is an ongoing issue to ensure the safety of students.” Illegal turns and backing up are also moves that bus drivers shouldn’t be taking which cause injuries.

The school district has the responsibility to hire safe drivers in which most cases they do. According to the school board policy 3.29, “Personal cell phones are prohibited and shouldn’t be used while driving or while on duty.” Even though this policy exists, drivers are still seen using them. “The bus feels very unsafe because the bus driver doesn’t know how to drive,” says junior Jermaine Hickman.

In a personal experience a few years ago, my bus driver was speeding and happened to be on her cell phone. She would turn on red lights and put the students in danger. With the same bus driver we had gotten in an accident but no one was hurt.

Students can also be the cause of accidents as they can be a distraction. According to Silent Witness, 90 percent of bus accidents occur from misbehaving children. Recently, the news reported that in Miami-Dade, there was a 15-year-old boy who shot and killed 13-year-old Lourdes Guzman on the school bus.

Once, on my bus, the bus driver had smelt weed and so did everyone else. He took the whole bus back to school where everyone’s bags were searched. There was no accident, but this could have been a distraction that caused one.

Photo by Austin Pacheco on Unsplash

There are many guidelines that bus drivers need to follow in the school district policies and the bus drivers’ handbook. The law doesn’t require buses to have seatbelts, but Florida is one of the exceptions. Florida requires seatbelts on buses and for students to wear them too but many don’t. Aaron Beauchamp, nine, died from a too loose seatbelt as the bus flipped over.

Palm Beach County provides bus transportation to 58,000 students and tries to keep them safe as accidents all over the country happen.