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2000
Report Card on
School Bus Safety in the U.S.©
|
Press
Release:
"NOT Taking a School Bus is Biggest School-Related Violence Risk" Springfield, Mo.-The single greatest risk to children in the United Sates is not violence inside the school building, but how they get to and from school, an independent safety expert said today in releasing his third annual Report Card on School Bus Safety in the U.S. According to school bus safety advocate Dr. Cal LeMon, "Most parents are under the mistaken impression that there is a huge risk of violence at school when, in fact, that risk pales in comparison to the risk of making the wrong choice in school-related transportation. The big yellow school bus may not be the 'cool' way to get to school, but it's the hands down safest way." "In fact, it's 87 times safer for your child to take a school bus than driving them yourself, letting them ride with friends, or even walking and bicycling," LeMon said. "Ironically, many teenagers say, 'I wouldn't be caught dead on a yellow school bus.' And, yet in communities all across the nation teenagers are dying needlessly in crashes going to and from high school because they insist on driving themselves, or riding with friends, instead of taking the bus," he said. Citing statistics from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, LeMon said, "During the four years between July 1994 and June 1998, a total of approximately 45 violent incidents that resulted in deaths occurred in school-associated settings. While school shootings in recent years have increased public perception that there is significant violence in schools, the fact is that the majority of our schools are safe places." "It runs counter to popular thinking, but less than 1 percent of all homicides and suicides among school-age children (5-19 years of age) occur in or around school grounds. The reality is that a child has only a one in two million chance of being killed inside a U.S. school," he added. "In startling contrast, 600 children are killed every year and many more are injured getting to and from school in some other vehicle than a school bus. This should be a wake up call for parents and policy-makers in every community because the vast majority of these deaths and injuries are predictable and preventable," LeMon said. "There are 48 million school children in the United States. Half of them ride school buses and on average there are ten occupant fatalities a year. The other half get to school some other way and 600 of them lose their lives as a result. This isn't just a statistical imbalance, it's a terrible safety imbalance that can be corrected easily," he said. "We need to get our priorities straight," LeMon said. "Whether or not there are lap belts in school buses often is the lightning rod issue in some communities. But the energy and activism should be directed toward getting more children to ride school buses-that's where the big safety payoff is." He noted that a federal research program to determine if lap/shoulder belts would be effective in school buses will be completed later this year. "It's all about choices. Congress and federal and state governments have done their part by choosing to make school buses the most regulated, most inspected, and safest motor vehicles on the road, and with some of the best trained drivers. But all this safety emphasis is pointless if parents don't make the right choice and insist that their children take the bus to school," LeMon added. The Report Card, produced with data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and from states, does not attempt to formally rate or grade individual states, or pick winners and losers. Instead, it provides key information about pupil transportation so parents and local officials can see how their state compares to others in funding, ridership, and other critical issues. This year it includes for the first time narrative comments on many states. For example: Idaho increased pupil transportation funding in each of the past four years; West Virginia not only has high ridership (80 percent), but increased pupil transportation funding by 5 percent; Maryland allocated $450,000 for local police enforcement of those who pass a stopped school bus illegally; Missouri increased pupil transportation funding by 7.44 percent, the first increase since 1992; and New York transports more students than any other state-2.4 million every day. LeMon said parents should know these key facts about school buses:
Dr. LeMon is a nationally known writer, professional speaker and corporate trainer who is president of The Executive Enrichment, Inc., in Springfield, Mo. His advocacy for school bus safety is a personal concern-he receives no funding from any school bus manufacturer, supplier or other business interest for his work promoting safe pupil transportation. He has extensively researched pupil transportation in the U.S., participated in dozens of school transportation meetings, and is the author of a best-selling book, Unreported Miracles: What You Probably Do Not Know About Your Child's School Bus.
About this report… It is not the intent of the Report Card to label states with an actual "grade;" rather, it is to provide important numbers that will communicate the history and commitment to school bus safety. There is a new feature in this report that has not appeared in the past two years. Following the statistics, for many states, the reader will find a commentary provided by Dr. Cal LeMon, the author of this report. The commentary is an interpretation of the data, along with additional information supplied by the state directors of pupil transportation, and is intended to "flesh out" the inert columns of numbers. If a commentary does not appear for a particular state, the state director of pupil transportation did not provide any ancillary information. Statistics have been obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), School Transportation News, and School Bus Fleet magazines. Every effort has been made to make the most-recent statistics available for this report. Data on enrollment, children transported, buses and funding are the latest available from each state. For all states, the fatality and injury data are for the 1997-1998 school year. The fatality and incapacitating injuries assume there was a death at the accident scene. The reader should note there are many other non-fatality accidents for both passenger vehicles and school buses that are not reported here.
Overview... The author, as an overview, has created the following conclusions after collecting and studying all the data.
About Cal LeMon… In 1995 Dr. LeMon presented a keynote address for the California Association of School Transportation Officials where he began to understand the outstanding safety record of pupil transportation professionals. This initial contact has lead to Dr. LeMon's best-selling book, Unreported Miracles: What You Probably Do Not Know About Your Child's School Bus (Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 1999). As a frequent conference speaker, researcher and media spokesperson about yellow school bus transportation, Dr. LeMon has become the authoritative, independent voice for school bus safety in the United States. Dr. LeMon does not receive any funding from sources inside or outside the pupil transportation industry for his investigative work. He often states, "Becoming an advocate for the safety of our children is a great way to use up a life." The 2000 edition of Report Card on School Bus Safety in the U.S.© is the third consecutive year Dr. LeMon and his staff have collected data as a service to parents, school administrators and members of the media who are wondering if placing a child in a yellow school bus is the safest choice.
Cal LeMon would like to thank… A special kudos has to go to Doug Snyder, Director of Transportation, Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Bakersfield, California who provided literally weeks of time collecting the data from the FARS (Fatality Analysis Reporting System) about the statistical difference between placing a child in a passenger car and a school bus when considering a trip to school. Thank you to the staff of School Transportation News and School Bus Fleet whose database was enthusiastically opened to our investigation. And thanks to members of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Pupil Transportation and the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services who will never be satisfied until the injury and fatality figures for yellow school buses read "zero." Thank you to Karen Livingston who crunched the numbers and put up with the demands of the author. The largest bouquet has to be thrown to the almost one million professionals in the yellow school bus industry who make a trip to and from school the, statistically, safest form of ground transportation in this country. © 2000 Executive Enrichment, Inc. and School Bus Information Council. Copying any portion of this information without the express permission of Executive Enrichment, Inc. and School Bus Information Council is strictly prohibited |
