Chicago – New national data show that school-bus-related accidents send 17,000 U.S. children to emergency rooms each year, more than double the number in previous estimates that included only crashes.
Nearly one-fourth of the accidents occur when children are boarding or leaving school buses, while crashes account for 42 percent, the new research shows.
Slips and falls on buses, getting jostled when buses stop or turn suddenly and injuries from roughhousing are among other ways kids get hurt on school buses, the data found.
Injuries range from cuts and sprains to broken bones, but most are not life-threatening and don’t require hospitalization. And while the numbers are higher than previously reported, they represent a small fraction of the 23.5 million children who travel on school buses nationwide each year, the researchers said.
The researchers said the results provide a strong argument for requiring safety belts on school buses, something industry groups say is unnecessary and is more than many school districts can afford.
Safety belts, particularly lap-shoulder belts, “could not only prevent injuries related to crashes,” they could also keep kids seated “so they’re not falling out of their seats when buses make normal turns or brake,” said lead author Jennifer McGeehan, a researcher at Columbus Children’s Hospital’s Center for Injury Research and Policy in Columbus, Ohio.
The study appears in November’s Pediatrics, being released today.
Five states – California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey and New York – and some districts have implemented varying safety-belt requirements for school buses, according to the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, a nonprofit advocacy group.
