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Greatest Risk in School Travel Is Not on School
Buses
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by:
Lynn Bode
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WASHINGTON
-- Children are at far more risk traveling to and from school in
private passenger vehicles -- especially if a teen-age driver is
involved -- than in school buses, says a new report from the National
Academies' Transportation Research Board. Bicycling and walking also
place students at greater risk than traveling by school bus. National
data assessing the risk of different modes of school transportation
need to be made available to help parents, students, and officials at
the state and local levels make more informed decisions regarding
safety, said the committee that wrote the report.
"Each state, school district, and private school must assess its own
situation and circumstances," said committee chair H. Douglas
Robertson, director, Highway Safety Research Center, University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "The goal is to improve the safety of all
children traveling to and from school, and to provide information to
communities so that they can make informed choices that balance their
needs and resources."
Every year, about 800 school-age children are killed in motor vehicle
crashes during normal school travel hours -- weekday mornings and
afternoons during school months -- accounting for about 14 percent of
the 5,600 child deaths that occur on the nation's roadways. Of these
800 deaths, only about 2 percent are school-bus related, while 74
percent occur in private passenger vehicles and 22 percent are the
result of pedestrian or bicycle accidents. More than half of all deaths
of children between age 5 and 18 occur during normal school travel
hours when a teen-ager is driving.
When students are injured or killed in crashes involving school buses,
the link to school travel seems obvious, but when such casualties occur
while traveling to and from school by other modes of transportation,
the association is often not made. Congress asked the National Research
Council to study the safety issues posed by all travel modes so that an
accurate comparison could be made.
The report considered six transportation modes. In assessing buses, the
committee looked at school buses as well as public transit buses and
motorcoach services. Passenger vehicles were divided into two
categories, those driven by individuals 19 or older and those driven by
operators under 19 years of age, mostly students. Data on pedestrians
and bicyclists traveling to and from school also were examined.
The dramatic difference in risk across transportation modes at the
national level suggests that more can be done to manage and reduce
those dangers, the committee said. School districts should facilitate
travel by safer modes while working to improve others that are less
safe. For example, walking and bicycling could be made safer by
improving sidewalks and protection at street crossings as well as
building more bike paths. A dialogue among parents, schools, and other
relevant organizations also needs to be established, encouraging
collaboration to promote safe practices for students using all modes.
To help identify the risks of school travel, the committee developed a
risk-management framework. This framework should be included among the
tools used to make decisions on locations of schools, changes in the
amount of student parking provided, or changes in the area serviced by
school buses. For example, increasing the distance that students must
live from school to qualify for school-bus service may save money but
it also shifts children to travel modes that are less safe.
Alternatively, providing school-bus service for middle school children
attending after-school activities could reduce the risk of injury and
fatality significantly. These examples, however, are based on national
averages and do not reflect the variations that exist on a local or
school-district level.
More research and evaluation are needed to provide local
decision-makers with better guidance on how to reduce school travel
risks, the committee said. Data limitations also pose problems. At
present, a lack of uniformity in local- and state-level data hinders
risk analyses in individual school districts. National data provide
helpful insights, but could be improved by using consistent
definitions. Before gathering new data, however, the cost-effectiveness
of doing so needs to be examined.
The study was sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The National
Research Council is the principal operating arm of the National Academy
of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. It is a private,
nonprofit institution that provides independent advice on science and
technology issues under congressional charter. A committee roster
follows.
Copies of The Relative Risks of School Travel: A National Perspective
and Guidance for Local Community Assessment are available for free on
the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Printed copies will soon be
available for purchase from the Transportation Research Board; tel.
(202) 334-3213, fax (202) 334-2519, or e-mail TRBSales@nas.edu>.
Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public
Information (contacts listed above).
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Transportation Research Board
Committee on School Transportation Safety
H. Douglas Robertson (chair)
Director
Highway Safety Research Center
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill
About the author:
Press Release
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