Bus Accident Newsroom

Unless We Pay Attention To All The Lessons Learned In This School Bus Accident

The Safety Board emphasized that the safety issues of student emergency preparedness and bus driver training need to be addressed. “Unless we pay attention to all the lessons learned in this school bus accident,” Engleman-Conners said, “we will continually repeat them and unnecessarily jeopardize the lives of students.” For the complete accident report, visit the NTSB Students Didn’t Know How to Open Emergency Hatches, Lacked Bus Evacuation Training The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation of the fatal Omaha school bus crash uncovered disturbing safety shortcomings. Although Nebraska law required and Federal guidance recommends twice-yearly school bus evacuation drills for all students who ride school buses, very few of the students on the accident bus had received the training. Also, there had been no pre-trip safety briefing. Students on the bus who survived the accident told investigators they kicked out the emergency roof hatches because they were unfamiliar with how to unlock them.

The emergency exit signage was obscured by the overhead racks, so students did not know where the emergency exit windows were; they only reported knowing where the doors were. In previous accidents investigated by the Safety Board, motorcoach passengers have reported a general sense of panic because they did not know what to do or how to get out of the bus. “The Omaha accident demonstrates that pre-trip safety information may be critically important for students who ride school buses sporadically, since they may be less familiar with the bus’s general layout and escape routes than regular riders,” NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman-Conners said. The Safety Board concluded that if the school district had conducted emergency evacuation drills and demonstrations for all students, the passengers’ ability to open emergency exits and evacuate the vehicle in this emergency would have been greatly improved. Unfortunately, the Omaha students’ lack of emergency evacuation training is common.

According to a December 2003 survey of State Directors of Transportation conducted by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, few States require that students who ride buses for extracurricular functions receive pre-trip safety information and require physical demonstration of the operation of emergency exits. Despite the Federal guidelines that recommend operators conduct pre-trip briefings on the location and operation of emergency exits, the survey shows that most schools do not conduct pre-trip briefings before every school-related activity trip, and few States have adopted this practice. The Safety Board urges school districts to conduct pre-trip safety briefings and drills for all school-related activity trips. - 30 - Sidebar 2: NTSB Urges Recurrent School Bus Driver Training and ‘Check Rides’ The fatal Omaha crash also points to another safety issue the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has seen in numerous highway investigations: bus driver unfamiliarity with different types of vehicles. The longer, transit-style bus involved in the accident differed from the driver’s regular route bus, which was a conventional-type school bus, in several important operational and handling respects.

“This accident demonstrates the tragic consequences of underestimating key operational differences among bus types,” NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman-Conners said. “We urge school officials to review their practices regarding assignment of drivers based upon familiarity with the bus, recurrent training, and ‘check rides’ for drivers who are assigned a bus that fundamentally differs from the type of bus upon which they developed their skills.” In the Nebraska accident, the Safety Board also concluded that the accident bus driver’s unfamiliarity with the accident vehicle, which differed both in its perceptual demands and in its handling characteristics from his regular route bus, may have contributed to his inability to accurately judge the lateral distance to the guardrail, bridge rail, and oncoming vehicle and to his inability to properly steer the bus through the work zone.

Because this driver had very limited recent experience operating a bus of this design, the driver’s ability to judge the vehicle’s spatial proximity to the bridge rail was probably limited, a factor that was compounded by the series of slight curves on the approach to the bridge, the NTSB said. The Safety Board has found during investigations of other school bus accidents that most school transportation administrators usually try to assign drivers to a single bus, perhaps recognizing the value of the driver’s familiarity with the particular features and idiosyncrasies of that vehicle. When a bus undergoes repairs—or in this case, the trip itinerary requires a specially designated vehicle with which the driver is less familiar—drivers may underestimate the differences associated with the vehicle’s handling characteristics.