Bus crashes on decline

Associated Press

DAYTON, Ohio

Crashes involving Ohio school buses have declined steadily in recent years, according to the State Highway Patrol.

Fatalities are rare, and the accidents mostly involve another vehicle rear-ending a bus, troopers said.

Some other accidents involve school buses sliding off icy roads or two buses colliding in a parking lot, patrol Sgt. Aaron Gentry told the Dayton Daily News.

Patrol records show that crashes involving school buses declined from 1,671 in 2006 to 1,579 last year. There were 77 fewer crashes in Ohio last year than in 2009, the newspaper reported.

The patrol said in a release Tuesday that it has 23 teams of motor vehicle inspectors who inspect all Ohio school buses at least twice each year to make sure they are safe.

Bus drivers also undergo safety training.

Law enforcement officials’ biggest concern is other drivers’ passing stopped school buses that are loading or unloading children, Sgt. John Lumpcik of the patrol’s Xenia post told the Daily News.

More than 4,400 drivers were cited from 2008 through 2010 for failing to stop for a school bus loading and unloading children.

“For them to be cited for that, all we need is the bus driver to give us the license plate, unlike other traffic violations where we are required to view the violation,” Lumpcik said.

The patrol also advises drivers to watch out for children walking to and from the bus stop when they are backing out of a garage or driveway. Children should stop and look both ways before crossing the street when exiting a bus and “remain alert to any sudden traffic changes,” patrol Superintendent John Born said.

Some school districts also hope to improve safety through technology — including cameras and DVRs on buses to record activity and global-positioning systems that allow transportation officials to monitor buses’ speed and timeliness.