Tips for Keeping School Bus Drivers & Passengers Safe

Zonar provides information and tips on driving safely around school buses before the 2019 -2020 school year

Seattle, Wash. – July 31, 2019 - With summer almost over, parents and caregivers are turning their attention towards preparing for the upcoming school year – including how to ensure children get to and from their schools safely. According to the American School Bus Council, school buses are the safest mode of transportation for students. However, since 2007, there has been an increase of injuries to school bus drivers by nearly 33% while on the job.^{1, 2}

To ensure the safety of school bus drivers and their passengers, Zonar - the leader in smart fleet management technology – created a guide for drivers on how to maneuver safely around school buses. The guide can be downloaded here.

Analyzing injury and accident data over the past ten years, Zonar also found that:

• 87% of accidents involving a school bus were caused by another vehicle; 40% involved a vehicle rear-ending a stopped or slowing school bus, and 20% involved a driver t-boning the bus at an intersection.³
• Accidents involving school buses take place most frequently at the beginning (September) and at the end (June) of the school year.^3,4,5
• On average, school bus accidents caused by speeding happen most in May and November (more than a third of accidents during these months involve one vehicle going over the speed limit).^3,4,5

"During the school year, school bus drivers ensure their passengers reach their destinations safely and on time," says H. Kevin Mest, senior vice president of passenger services at Zonar. "Not only should we recognize the men and women who play such a crucial role in our children's lives, the general public driving near school buses should also take on the responsibility for helping them stay safe and making sure we aren’t inadvertently causing accidents or injuries."

Zonar creates technology solutions that collect and analyze data from a wide-variety of vehicles including trucks, school buses and construction equipment. This information empowers drivers and fleet managers with the data and analysis needed to better navigate any route and safely manage passengers. Zonar technology is on over nearly 200,000 school buses nation-wide, helping school districts bolster and improve the safety of school bus passengers, providing parents peace-of-mind by ensuring they know where their children are while on the road.

Zonar creates technology solutions that collect and analyze data from a wide-variety of vehicles including trucks, school buses and construction equipment. This information empowers drivers and fleet managers with the data and analysis needed to better navigate any route and safely manage passengers. Zonar technology is on over nearly 200,000 school buses nation-wide, helping school districts bolster and improve the safety of school bus passengers, providing parents peace-of-mind by ensuring they know where their children are while on the road.

Footnotes:

1. Injuries – National Center for Statistics and Analysis. (2007-2015). Traffic Safety Facts, 2007-2015 editions. Washington, DC: NHTSA.
2. Injury data for 2016 are NSC tabulations of the NHTSA Crash Report Sampling System. School bus transportation data accessed Oct. 12, 2018, from American School Bus Councils.
3. FARS database, 2017 accident data Deaths for 2007-2015 – National Center for Statistics and Analysis. (2017). Traffic Safety Facts 2006-2015 Data – School Transportation-Related Crashes (DOT HS 811 746). Washington, DC: NHTSA.
4. Fatality data for 2016 and 2017 deaths are NSC tabulations of Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data.
5. Injury data for 2016 are NSC tabulations of the NHTSA Crash Report Sampling System. School bus transportation data accessed Oct. 12, 2018, from American School Bus Councils.

About Zonar
Founded in 2001, Zonar has pioneered smart fleet management solutions throughout vocational, pupil, mass transit and commercial trucking industries. Zonar helps fleets of all sizes maximize the use of their assets with solutions dedicated to improving compliance, efficiency, maintenance, ridership visibility, safety and tracking. Cloud-based services with open API's drive Zonar's smart fleet solutions by making it easy for fleet owners and managers to stay connected to their fleets and drivers and operators to dispatch. Headquartered in Seattle and majority-owned by technology company Continental, Zonar also has a Technology Development Center in downtown Seattle, a regional office in Cincinnati, and a distribution center outside of Atlanta. For more information about Zonar, go to www.zonarsystems.com