Year 2000 school bus safety reports

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The year 2000 came with a variety of assertions concerning the safety of children on America's school buses. Some safety stats recounted that school buses are 2,000 times safer than transporting children in the family car. Other researchers and school bus safety advocates reported from 87 times safer and 285 times safer. One reported the school bus may be more dangerous than transporting children back and forth to school in the family car. Here are some of the reports and their sources. Links are provided at the end of page Two.

Original story title, 2000 Report Card on School Bus Safety in the U.S. © By Dr. Cal LeMon, Released August 31, 2000.

NOT Taking a School Bus is Biggest School-Related Violence Risk

By Dr. Cal LeMon
Springfield, Mo. - The single greatest risk to children in the United Sates is not violence inside the school building, but how they get to and from school, an independent safety expert said today in releasing his third annual Report Card on School Bus Safety in the U.S.

According to school bus safety advocate Dr. Cal LeMon, "Most parents are under the mistaken impression that there is a huge risk of violence at school when, in fact, that risk pales in comparison to the risk of making the wrong choice in school-related transportation. The big yellow school bus may not be the 'cool' way to get to school, but it's the hands down safest way."

"In fact, it's 87 times safer for your child to take a school bus than driving them yourself, letting them ride with friends, or even walking and bicycling," LeMon said.

"Ironically, many teenagers say, 'I wouldn't be caught dead on a yellow school bus.' And, yet in communities all across the nation teenagers are dying needlessly in crashes going to and from high school because they insist on driving themselves, or riding with friends, instead of taking the bus," he said.

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Citing statistics from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, LeMon said, "During the four years between July 1994 and June 1998, a total of approximately 45 violent incidents that resulted in deaths occurred in school-associated settings. While school shootings in recent years have increased public perception that there is significant violence in schools, the fact is that the majority of our schools are safe places."

"It runs counter to popular thinking, but less than 1 percent of all homicides and suicides among school-age children (5-19 years of age) occur in or around school grounds. The reality is that a child has only a one in two million chance of being killed inside a U.S. school," he added.

"600 children are killed every year and many more are injured getting to and from school in some other vehicle than a school bus." - Cal LeMon

"In startling contrast, 600 children are killed every year and many more are injured getting to and from school in some other vehicle than a school bus. This should be a wake up call for parents and policy-makers in every community because the vast majority of these deaths and injuries are predictable and preventable," LeMon said.

"There are 48 million school children in the United States. Half of them ride school buses and on average there are ten occupant fatalities a year. The other half get to school some other way and 600 of them lose their lives as a result. This isn't just a statistical imbalance, it's a terrible safety imbalance that can be corrected easily," he said.

"We need to get our priorities straight," LeMon said. "Whether or not there are lap belts in school buses often is the lightning rod issue in some communities. But the energy and activism should be directed toward getting more children to ride school buses-that's where the big safety payoff is." He noted that a federal research program to determine if lap/shoulder belts would be effective in school buses will be completed later this year. Continued on Page Two

Review: Unreported Miracles

"Unreported Miracles" helps parents keep kids safe

Reviewed by James Kraemer, 2safeschools
In his book, "Unreported Miracles," the author, Dr. Cal LeMon, points out that the school bus is the safest mode of transportation to and from school, 172 times safer, for example, than transporting children in the family car.

Chapter 3, "The Danger Zone," gives parents excellent information concerning the most dangerous part of the bus trip to and from school - the school bus stop. LeMon points out, "Your child is safer inside than outside the school bus."

He's right. More kids are killed at bus stops, many run over by their own bus, than die in the 55,000 school bus crashes each year in the United States. Training kids how to behave at the school bus stop is a major safety issue LeMon covers in his book.

Click Here to read more about Dr. LeMon's Book, "Unreported Miracles".

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