How high off the ground are the rear bumpers of your school buses? In Virginia, there have been accidents in which cars have underridden the rear end of stopped school buses, resulting in severe injuries and deaths to the car occupants. In all cases the bus drivers did nothing wrong, and the accidents were due primarily to the inattention of other motorists. Why should the school bus operator be concerned when the cause of the crash is the other operator? One reason is the emotional (if not physical) trauma that could be inflicted upon bus passengers who witness the event. Underride accidents usually involve substantially higher degrees of injury to the passengers of the vehicle submarining the bus. In some cases, these occupants have been decapitated, an event that would test the resolve of any witness, much less a child. Another concern is vicarious liability or corporate culpability. Simply put, you can always be sued, even when you did not cause the accident. The school employee (bus driver) and/or the school system may be included in a lawsuit merely as a potential “deep pocket.” Even if the driver and school system are cleared of any culpability, the cost of mounting a legal defense can be a significant drain on a budget. However, the biggest concern is the possibility of residual fire from the collision. Remember the tragedy in Carrollton, Ky., in 1988 when a pickup truck struck a church bus and ruptured the bus’ fuel tank? Steps have been taken to protect the fuel tank on school buses and to provide additional emergency exits, but an engine fire consuming a small vehicle wedged under a school bus is still a real possibility.
Rear impacts take toll
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that nationwide there are approximately 420 fatalities per year as a result of rear impacts into large heavy vehicles such as trucks, trailers and semi-trailers. Of these fatalities, approximately 73 percent are the result of rear impacts into trailers and semi-trailers. These numbers are significant when considering that these vehicles represent only 28 percent of the registered heavy vehicles in the United States. It’s easy to see why Federal Motor Vehicles Safety Standards (FMVSS) 223 and 224 address rear-impact protection and require certain types of trucks to have energy-absorbing rear-impact guards. The guard must be no more than 22 inches above the ground and the entire assembly must not be more than 12 inches forward from the rearmost part of the trailer. But the effectiveness of these devices may not be known for several years. NHTSA has scheduled an evaluation of truck underride protection beginning in 2002. Since this type of accident with school buses is relatively rare, there is no urgency to require rear-impact guards. In fact, there is some concern that the addition of a guard or “crash bar” could create new problems. For example, a crash bar could be used as a “hitching point” for students riding skateboards or roller blades.
