Author(s)

D. S. Turner, S. L. Jones, Jr. & J. B. Wood

Abstract

This paper reviews school bus traffic safety in Alabama. Even though school buses have been shown to be the safest mode of student travel, the high numbers of student riders and huge number of miles transported daily provide large exposure. Furthermore, the loss of a precious young life in a school bus collision draws a disproportionately large amount of attention and kindles doubt about safety among the parents of other students. These are two reasons why school transport programs routinely monitor safety and devote considerable resources to driver training. This paper takes the analysis to the next level by looking at school transport safety on a state-wide basis, rather than a program by program basis. The study was conducted using the Critical Analysis Reporting Environment (CARE) software. CARE was created as a traffic crash analysis tool. It has multiple years of embedded crash data, and is capable of routine statistical manipulations of data (frequency plots, cross tabulations, significance testing, etc.), can compare segments of highways to identify locations where accidents are over-represented, and can identify roadway segments which are beginning to experience crashes at an increasing rate. It also has a robust information technique module. All features are user friendly, based upon screen icons that guide the analysis. Keywords: school transport safety, highway safety, traffic crash analysis, information mining, CARE.

Keywords

school transport safety, highway safety, traffic crash analysis, information mining, CARE.