Running head: SCHOOL BUS SAFETY 1

School Bus Student Behavior

Michael R. McKenzie

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

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School Bus Student Behavior

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is a part

of the Department of Transportation (DOT), recognizes school buses as being the safest means

of transportation there is on the United States roadways today. In fact, they are so safe there

were only 64 student age (18 and under) school bus passenger fatalities from 2005 to 2014, an

average of 6 per year (NHTSA 2016). This is an impressive record when you consider every

year school buses transport almost twenty five million students while logging more than four

billion miles in the United States (Maciag, 2016). The American School Bus Council (ASBC)

points out that according to the NHTSA students taking the bus are 70 times more likely to arrive

at school alive than if they drive themselves or ride with a friend (ASBC, 2016). However, any

time a life is lost it is not a record to be celebrated, especially when it comes to our children.

Continued efforts should always be made to find new and better ways of safe guarding our young

people.

Every year state lawmakers across the country re-evaluate if their states school buses

would be safer for student passengers if all large school buses (GVWR >10,000 lbs.) were

equipped with seat belts. Small school buses (GVWR <10,000 lbs.) by law must be equipped

with seat belts already. My home state of Arkansas is no exception. On January 31, 2017, a bill

for school bus seat belts, House Bill (HB) 1002, was introduced by Representative Mark

McElroy to the Arkansas State Legislature, and passed on February 27 (McElroy, 2017).

Although the law does not mandate all large school buses be equipped with seat belts, it does
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give the people living in each of Arkansas school districts the right to put their districts school

bus seat belt initiative to vote.

Proponents for equipping all large school buses with seat belts argue seat belts will

reduce the probability of death and severity of injuries in an accident. They also argue seat belts

will improve overall passenger behavior, reduce driver distractions, and reinforce good safety

habits. In addition, advocates for school bus seat belts believe for only a nominal cost, the

student passengers will be better protected in the event of a rollover or side impact accident.

Opponents to mandating all large school buses be equipped with seat belts have equally

strong arguments. They argue there is not enough data to support a reduction in deaths, more

students die outside of the bus, and funds would be taken away from student learning to equip

buses. They also point out many students would not wear them correctly or at all. Another

argument opponents make is by pointing out that no other passenger vehicle affords its

passengers the number of safety features that are required in every school bus (Louisiana

Department of Education, 2016, p. 2).

Besides being big and yellow, school buses are heavy, have a highly visible stop indicator

system, and have increased frame and body supports. The roof of a school bus has added

support beams, and is rounded with no sharp edges for added safety. Windows are small so to

prevent students being ejected from the bus if it were to rollover. The primary occupant safety

feature on a school bus is the concept of seat compartmentalization. Seat compartments (see

Figure 1) are designed so the seats are closely-spaced with high seat backs that are energy

absorbing (NHTSA, 2017). Seats are anchored firmly to the floor of the bus, and have an added

impact rail located at shoulder height. The seat compartments are designed to protect student
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occupants like an egg crate in the event of an accident. In addition, for added safety to the

compartment area, school buses are raised, so the floor of the bus is above the typical impact

zone of an accident.

Figure 1. Photo of school bus seat compartment

My interest in the new Arkansas legislation on school bus seat belts derives from being a

parent of two who both ride school buses and myself being a school bus driver for the Bryant

Public School District. As a parent and bus driver I wanted to objectively research for myself

both sides of the argument. In doing research, I was unable to locate any studies regarding

student behavior, and how it relates to the primary internal safety feature of a school bus, seat

compartmentalization. Basically, if student occupants are not seated properly in their seat, the

seat compartmentalization concept is rendered ineffective, similar to an unused seat belt.

The primary goal for any professional school bus driver is to transport students to and

from school safely. In order to accomplish this goal a bus driver must be able to concentrate on

the external environment of the bus, with the fewest internal distractions as possible. Constant

monitoring of student passenger behavior by the bus driver is not possible for a safe bus ride.
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This leaves the bus driver with the occasional glance in the rear view mirror to see how students

are behaving. Student passengers should always remain seated, facing toward the front of the

bus, and keep their feet and legs in front of them anytime the school bus is moving. Students are

instructed on this expected behavior at the beginning of school, and frequently reminded

throughout the school year by the driver. However, many students ignore the rules, especially

when it comes to sitting properly in their seats, and the bus driver does not have the ability to

catch every infraction.

Every time a student stands up, leans into or across the aisle, turns around, gets in the

floor, or changes seats while the bus is moving they are putting themselves at risk of injury or

worse in the event of an accident that could have otherwise been prevented had they been

properly seated in the seat compartment. In addition, when a bus driver does happen to visually

see a student behaving improperly in the previous described ways the attention of the driver is

temporarily diverted from their primary task, driving. This furthermore puts the student, driver,

and every other passenger on the bus in danger.

Advocates for school bus seat belts believe seat belts will increase the safety of student

passengers by improving student behavior on buses, while opponents argue that seat

compartmentalization provides sufficient protection, but this is only true if the student is properly

seated. Unable to locate any research to review regarding student behavior on school buses with

relation to being seated properly, I decided to look further into this issue.

Method

Today most all large school buses are equipped with video recording systems of some

type. All large buses in the Bryant Public School District are equipped with 3-4 cameras. One
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of these cameras is mounted on the exterior of the school bus in order to record violators who do

not stop when the bus stop sign is deployed. The remaining 2-3 cameras are located on the

ceiling within the interior of the school bus. These cameras are used to record the interior

environment. One camera is located in the rear of the bus, and monitors from the rear toward the

front of the school bus. A second camera is located in the front of the bus, along with the hard

drive, (see Figure 2) and records from the front of the bus toward the back of the bus. Most

buses have a third camera in the center of the bus, which monitors the general area it is located

above.

Figure 2. Photo of school bus video camera and hard drive

Prior to beginning my project I obtained permission from the Director of Transportation,

Tom Farmer, for the Bryant Public School District to utilize the school bus video monitoring

system from multiple buses to complete this new research. On March 3, 2017, I viewed video

recordings of the first five minutes from the previous days, March 2, afternoon bus routes. This

was completed for ten different buses. In order to ensure the sample of buses I selected had

diversity across all grade levels I selected buses that transport different grade ranges of students.
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As I viewed each five minute segment of video from the ten buses I took a tally of

different unsafe student passenger behaviors and when the driver became distracted by bad

behaviors. Anytime a student is not properly seated, they are at risk. I took note each time a

student passenger stood up, changed seats, sat in the floor, and turned around. In addition, I

noted when a student leaned into or across the center aisle with the majority of their torso.

Finally, I also watched for the situations where the bus driver became distracted enough from the

bad student behavior that they addressed the situation verbally with the student or students.

Data

Upon completion of my observations I realized that I had not documented the number of

occupants on each of the ten buses observed. Fortunately, I was able to obtain the student

passenger rosters foe each bus. The rosters provided me the number of passengers assigned to

each bus. However, it is expected that not everyone on the roster will ride the bus all at once.

Mr. Farmer informed me that one could expect approximately 85% of those students listed on a

bus roster to actually ride the school bus on any given route. There are students who ride

sporadically, mornings or afternoons only, or did not attend school on a given day. This said all

percentages using passenger occupancy are based on the total number of students appearing on

bus rosters less 15%. The ten buses observed had a student occupancy ranging between 37 and

81 passengers after calculating 85% from the total number of students appearing on the bus

roster (see Figure 3).

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Figure 3. School Bus Student Behavior and Driver Distraction

The school buses observed emulated the diversity of grade levels Bryant school buses

transport daily. One bus I selected transports elementary only, one bus transports elementary and

middle school, three buses transport middle school only, one bus transports middle and high

school, two transport high school only, and two buses transport all three, elementary, middle, and

high school. Elementary is composed of kindergarten thru 5th grade, middle school is 6th thru 8th

grades, and high school is 9th thru 12th grades.

The most frequently observed bad student passenger behavior was students leaning into

or across the bus center aisle. This behavior was observed a total of 42 times, representing about

7% of student passengers. Middle school and high school students account for the majority of

these instances, with middle school being the biggest violators. On 13 occasions students stood

up while the bus was moving. Again, middle school and high school students were the primary

passengers who did this. A total of 11 students were observed being turned around in their seats,

facing toward the back of the bus. In one situation a student was sitting up on his knees, facing

the back of the bus for the entire five minutes I observed. Middle school and high school

students were most frequently observed exhibiting this behavior. Four students were observed

sitting on the floor of the bus, and 2 were seen changing seats all while their buses were in
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motion. There were a total of 72 proper seating violations observed which accounts for roughly

12% of the student passengers.

It should be noted that each bus exhibited different behaviors, and this is in large part

based on the driver. Drivers who are stricter begin the school year by setting clear expectations

for student behavior, and remain consistent throughout the school year. They accomplish this by

documenting every time a student does not adhere to bus rules and expectations on how to

properly sit in a bus seat. This results in administrative consequences from verbal warnings to

periodic days of bus suspension. The final consequence is expulsion by the student from riding

the bus for the remainder of the school year. Considering I observed student bus behavior half

way through the second semester of the 2016-2017 school year, it can be expected student

behavior at this time is different than that of the first month or two of school. Most drivers will

only document improper seating behavior if it is observed by the driver during the bus route.

However, there are a few drivers who will take the extra time to review the recorded video of

their bus route in order to document all infractions. During my observations I identified 3

occasions where the bus driver witnessed improper behavior, and verbally addressed it with the

student who was behaving improperly. Only one of these drivers was distracted by bad behavior

unrelated to seating. The same observed driver had absolutely no one exhibit improper seating

behavior and it was comprised of 65 middle and high school students only.

Conclusion

There are many variables involved as to how students behave on a school bus. The

largest variable is the bus driver, and how they monitor and document student behavior. Other

variables include time of year, time of day, length of route, and the age group being transported.
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This leads me to conclude a larger more in depth study is required to ensure data truly reflects

the reality of student school bus behavior. For this study it is clear to see middle school and high

school students tend to display the majority of improper seating behaviors. This study also lends

validation to the argument of those who are proponents for school bus seat belts. School bus seat

belts would alter the behaviors observed, assuming all the students were wearing seat belts if

provided. In addition school bus seat belts would reduce distractions for the driver. However,

additional research is needed.

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References

American School Bus Council. (2016). American school bus council urges parents to choose the

safest form of transportation this school year. Retrieved from

http://www.americanschoolbuscouncil.org/news-media/press-releases-and-

newsletters/american-school-bus-council-urges-parents-to-choose-the-safest-form-of-

transportation-this-school-year

Lousiana Department of Education. (2016). Response to senate resolution 122 of the 2016

regular session. Retrieved from http://files.constantcontact.com/0e2b0e97001/abcf2423-

11e8-4a1d-9b77-fd602d28e2c4.pdf

Maciag, M. (2016, February 23). Despite lack of seat belts, school bus fatalities are rare.

Retrieved from http://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/gov-school-bus-

accidents-fatalities-statistics.html

McElroy, M. (2017, January 31). House Bill 1002. Retrieved from

http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2017/2017R/Bills/HB1002.pdf

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2017). School Buses. Retrieved from

https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/school-buses

National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. (2016). School-Transportation-Related

Crashes. Retrieved from

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812272