School Bus Safety | Traffic Safety Marketing

Millions of children across the nation ride on a school bus every day – that’s why school bus safety is important in every community. Use this material to educate the public about bus stop safety, including illegal school bus passing.

Facts

School bus facts, stats and reports from NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis

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From 2013 to 2022, there were 976 fatal school-transportation-related crashes, and 1,082 people of all ages were killed in those crashes — an average of 108 fatalities per year.
From 2013 to 2022, there were 198 school-age children who died in school-transportation-related traffic crashes; 35 were occupants of school transportation vehicles, 80 were occupants of other vehicles, 76 were pedestrians, 5 were pedalcyclists, and 2 were an “other” nonoccupant.
From 2013 to 2022, there were 1.5 times more fatalities among pedestrians (169) than occupants of school transportation vehicles (111) in school transportation-related crashes.
From 2013 to 2022, there were 111 occupants killed in school transportation vehicles; 50 were drivers, and 61 were passengers. Most (71%) of the people killed in school-transportation-related crashes were occupants of other vehicles involved in the crashes.
School buses are statistically the safest way to transport school children. Unfortunately, dangers still arise: From 2000-2022, there were 55 fatalities in crashes that involved a driver illegally passing a stopped school bus, an average of 2.4 fatalities a year. Almost half of those fatalities (25) were pedestrians who were 18 years old or younger.
In the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services 2023 Stop-Arm survey, 94,581 school bus drivers reported that 62,482 vehicles passed their buses illegally on a single day during the 2022-23 school year. Throughout a 180-day school year, these sample results point to more than 43.5 million violations per year among America’s motoring public.

For facts translated in Spanish, visit NHTSA.gov/Espanol.

National School Bus Safety Week

October 21-25, 2024 is National School Bus Safety Week and you'll see increased communication related to school bus safety. You can use any of the materials available on this page to increase your school bus safety messaging.

In addition, sample news releases can be downloaded and used during National School Bus Safety Week.

News Release | English

Social Media

Sample social media posts are available for you to use on your various social media platforms, including Facebook, X and Instagram.

Sample Social Media Posts | English

Talking Points

We've prepared talking points related to school bus safety. Some are for drivers, and others are for parents and students. After downloading, we encourage you to add local stats and facts to the document.