Record low for school bus accidents in Escambia County
- June 8, 2015
- / Staff Reports
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Riding the bus is the safest way for students to get to school, statistics show. But accidents do happen, so there’s always room for improvement.
When it comes to getting students to and from school, Escambia County School District transportation department has shown significant improvement in past years.
The department reported a record low of three school bus driver at-fault accidents for the 2014-2015 school year.
While officials would prefer no accidents at all, a total of three minor traffic accidents is a move in the right direction.
Six years ago, the district reported 25 at-fault accidents for the year, said Robert Doss, director of transportation.
With the district driving 5 million miles per year, it was hard to tell whether that was a good number or a bad number, he said.
At 25 at-fault traffic accidents per 5 million miles, it was a rate of 1 per 200,000 miles, which is the equivalent of more than 10 years of driving for the average person.
‘Still, it seemed like a large number to me," Doss said. "Having been a Marine pilot, I tend to take the Naval Aviation attitude about it and focus on the fact that one accident is too many because of the harm that one accident might do."
School buses are designed to be safer than passenger vehicles in avoiding dangerous accidents and preventing injuries to passengers from collisions.
A bus is 50 times safer than riding to school with a car driven by teenagers, according to the American School Bus Council.
In fact, students statistically are safer on a bus than riding with parents. They are 20 times more likely to arrive at school unscathed if they ride a bus rather than in a car driven by a parent or guardian.
Human error, however, and other factors can often cause an accident regardless of the vehicle’s safety features.
Doss credited the decline in at-fault accidents to the transportation department shifting the focus of staff training to stress an attitude that all accidents are preventable at some level by someone.
Some accidents that are the other person's fault might be nonetheless preventable because of action taken by a driver who is attentive and is expecting the unexpected, he said.
Doss added that the fact that most of our school bus operators approach their work that way, has had as much impact on our safety record as any other single factor.
"We are pleased to have seen a dramatic decrease in all of our school bus accidents, at-fault and otherwise, over the past six years," said Doss.
Schools Superintendent Malcolm Thomas was pleased to hear the news of the record low at-fault bus accidents.
"Our bus drivers are the first member of our staff many of our students see in the morning, and the last one they see after school." Thomas said. "We are very proud of the hundreds of highly professional bus operators who do all they can to give our students a safe trip to and from school."
‘Still, it seemed like a large number to me," Doss said. "Having been a Marine pilot, I tend to take the Naval Aviation attitude about it and focus on the fact that one accident is too many because of the harm that one accident might do."
School buses are designed to be safer than passenger vehicles in avoiding dangerous accidents and preventing injuries to passengers from collisions.
A bus is 50 times safer than riding to school with a car driven by teenagers, according to the American School Bus Council.
In fact, students statistically are safer on a bus than riding with parents. They are 20 times more likely to arrive at school unscathed if they ride a bus rather than in a car driven by a parent or guardian.
Human error, however, and other factors can often cause an accident regardless of the vehicle’s safety features.
Doss credited the decline in at-fault accidents to the transportation department shifting the focus of staff training to stress an attitude that all accidents are preventable at some level by someone.
Some accidents that are the other person's fault might be nonetheless preventable because of action taken by a driver who is attentive and is expecting the unexpected, he said.
Doss added that the fact that most of our school bus operators approach their work that way, has had as much impact on our safety record as any other single factor.
"We are pleased to have seen a dramatic decrease in all of our school bus accidents, at-fault and otherwise, over the past six years," said Doss.
Schools Superintendent Malcolm Thomas was pleased to hear the news of the record low at-fault bus accidents.
"Our bus drivers are the first member of our staff many of our students see in the morning, and the last one they see after school." Thomas said. "We are very proud of the hundreds of highly professional bus operators who do all they can to give our students a safe trip to and from school."
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