A new study finds that nonfatal bus injuries are double and nearly triple of past estimates. How safe are school buses?

23.5 million children ride a school bus to school each morning. Approximately 17,000 end up in a hospital emergency room each year from getting on, getting off or riding on a bus. A recent study by the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice with the Columbus Children's Research Institute at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio is calling attention to this health risk. Lead author of the study, Jennifer McGeehan, is concerned about the underreporting. Alan Mozes of the HealthDay Reporter investigates the study.

Demographpics

School bus injuries seem to be split evenly between boys and girls. 46% were white and 24% were black. 42% of injuries involved a car accident. 24% occured as students were boarding the school bus or getting off.

Most Susceptible Age Group

43% of all injuries, the highest rate, is 11-to-14-year-olds. The most common injuries were lower-extremity and not head injuries. The next largest injury rate was for 5-to-9-year-olds. In this age group, head injuries accounted for the most common injury.

Injuries

The most common injuries were in this order

• strains and sprains
• contusions and abrasions
• lacerations

This study does not take into account all the students that are not treated, injured and treated by the school nurse or taken to a private doctor by parents.

Research Suggestion

The research committee did offer a suggestion--have a second adult on the bus other than the bus driver. Bus drivers can not handle discipline matters when driving. Students know this, as well. Many injuries are caused by pushing and shoving.

Seat Belts?

Although the research committee did not call for seatbelts to be installed on buses, they are open to considering seat belts in the future.

"We do know that school buses still are one of the safest modes of travel," McGeehan added. "So we aren't saying school buses are dangerous. But we think they may be providing incomplete protection that might not safeguard kids in the case of lateral crashes or rollover crashes."

New Design?

Mozes reports that Alan Ross, president of the nonprofit National Coalition for School Bus Safety agreed that school belts are long overdue. "In this day and age for these vehicles to lack that additional protection is ridiculous," said Ross. "It's just common sense. And today the kids coming to us in kindergarten are already pre-trained from riding in their parents' car, so they can buckle and unbuckle faster than I can." Ross is calling for a complete overhaul of school bus safety.

"The school bus is a vehicle that has basically not been redesigned, with the exception of some added seat padding, in over 40 years, so we're dealing with a 40-year-old antique in terms of its body, its being prone to rollover, and its lack of traction control," Ross said. "They also allow the use of very flammable urethane material in the seating that is now barred from use in cars, boats and planes; there are inadequate emergency exits; and a poor two-way communication system between drivers and the outside world. All these things need to be addressed."

For more information on school bus injuries, contact the National Coalition for School Bus Safety.

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Copyright article 2006 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.