Back to School – Safely!

By Leah Walton, NTSB Safety Advocate

The 2023-2024 school year is upon us, and parents all over the country are preparing to send their students back to school.

In the rush to gather back-to-school supplies, it’s easy to lose sight of what “back to school” means at the basic, literal level. Your student is going to school again, and coming home again, every day. How can they do that most safely?

The answer for most families is the big yellow bus.

The hours before and after school are the most dangerous times for students on the roads, but students traveling in school buses are the best-protected passengers on the roads during these times.

Yet not every student has access to the bus, so let’s review best practices for getting to and from school, however your student gets there.

On the School Bus

Less than one percent of all traffic fatalities involve students in school transportation vehicles.  In other words, students are more likely to get to school safely if they take the school bus instead of traveling by car. If your student can ride the school bus, make this your first choice. 

School bus travel is a resounding success, and it is getting better all the time, thanks in part to the attention the NTSB brings to remaining vulnerabilities in school bus travel. For further information about school bus safety, and the NTSB safety recommendations related to school bus design, watch our School Bus Safety video. If your student’s school bus is equipped with seatbelts, make sure to remind your students to buckle theirs.

But rest assured that your student’s school bus ride keeps them safe on the way to and from school:

According to School Bus Fleet, in the 2021-22 school year, an estimated 489,748 yellow school buses provided transportation service daily in the United States. About 20.5 million elementary and secondary school students ride school buses to and from school each day.  School buses are the safest way to travel to school, and even when they do crash, occupants of school buses are safer than other road users. Seventy percent of deaths in school bus-related crashes are occupants of vehicles other than the school bus, and 16% are pedestrians. Out of all recorded school bus-involved deaths, only 5% of those who died were school bus passengers inside the bus.

But our students must get onto and off the bus, and during these phases they are much more vulnerable. As parents and as citizens we must all work together to ensure the safety of students on their way to and from school.  Drivers and parents, be careful and keep your eyes on the road for our most vulnerable road users. If you approach a school bus with red flashing lights on and stop-arm out, STOP! And remain stopped until stop signal and flashing lights are off and the bus is in motion again.

According to the American School Bus Council, passing vehicles cause nearly two thirds of school bus loading and unloading fatalities. 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. Throughout a 180-day school year, these sample results point to more than 43.5 million violations among America’s driving public—don’t be that driver!

As Pedestrians

According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), among the 206 school-age fatalities from 2012 to 2021, more school-age pedestrians were killed from 6 to 6:59 a.m. and 3 to 3:59 p.m. than any other hours of the day. Planning a safe route with your student is essential to their safe walk to and from school.

Map out the safest route for your student before school is back in session and practice it a few times. This will help them become familiar with the route, including any crosswalks or intersections they may need to negotiate, and allows you the opportunity to demonstrate safe walking behaviors.

• Choose bright colored clothing or outerwear for your student, ideally with retroreflective material.
• Consider creating a neighborhood group to walk together with at least one other student or older sibling.

As Bicyclists

If you have a student riding a bicycle to school, make sure you map out the route with them in advance, and practice as well! Make sure to remind your student of the rules of the road and to be as safe as possible.

Be sure your student wears a helmet and reflective gear! No matter how short or long the ride, wearing a helmet is important. It can cut the risk of head injuries by about 85% and facial injuries by about 65% among bike riders.

As Car Riders and Drivers

If you must drive your student to and from school, make sure all vehicle occupants are buckled up for every trip. A seat belt is the best defense in the event of a crash.

If your teen is driving to and from school, make sure they keep their safety and those around them in mind. As a parent or caregiver:

• Ensure their vehicle is in good operating condition – routinely have the vehicle serviced to ensure the brakes are working properly, there is adequate tire air pressure, and windshield wipers are in working order for maximum visibility.
• Be aware of how much sleep your teen is getting – teens need between 8-10 hours of sleep each night. Drowsy driving can be as dangerous as impaired driving.
• Limit the number of passengers in the vehicle to reduce distractions. In some states, it’s part of the Graduated Driver License law!
• Set the expectation that your teen driver put their phone away while driving. Hands-free cell phone use is not risk-free!
• Remind your teen of the importance of always following safe speeds, and never driving while under the influence of impairing prescription or illicit drugs.

We at the NTSB wish all students a safe and enriching 2023-2024 school year!

For more information on school bus safety, visit the NTSB School Bus Safety webpage.

Heading Back to School Safely

By Stephanie Shaw, NTSB Safety Advocate

 It’s nearing the end of August. Gone are the days of lounging by the pool or on the beach, or running around and playing outside. Soon, crowds of children will be waiting on the street corner for their school bus to arrive. It’s almost Labor Day, and the back-to-school season is upon us.

‘Tis the season for worrying about a lot of things: hunting down the best sales on school supplies and clothes, buying the right books, hoping your children will have good teachers and make new friends . . . the list goes on. It’s easy to forget about transportation safety amidst these other thoughts and concerns, but now is also the time to discuss with your kids the safest way for them to get to and from school.

Over the past 50 years, we’ve made school transportation safety a priority. For example, although the school bus is the safest method of transportation to and from school, when a bus crash does happen, we investigate to uncover any relevant safety issues so they can be fixed. Many of the most pressing back-to-school transportation issues (including impaired driving, distracted driving, and fatigue-related accidents) are currently items on our Most Wanted List (MWL) of transportation safety improvements. Our MWL contains what we believe to be the safety improvements that can prevent crashes and save lives, and these issues are among our highest priorities in our advocacy work.

So, how will your kids get to school this year? Will they take the bus? Do you have a carpool set up with another family? Do they walk or bike to school? Is your teen driving to and from school this year? Regardless of how your child gets there and home, this is a critical time for you, as a parent, to think about ways you can help keep them safe. By talking to your children about steps you can take as a family this school year to ensure a safe commute, you can do your part to help make transportation safety a priority.

Check out some of our back-to-school blog posts for some conversation starters and tips for keeping your children and their peers safe on the roads.

• Back-to-School Safety Series: A Child’s Best Teacher
• Back-to-School Safety Series: Why the School Bus is the Safest Choice
• Back-to-School Safety Series: Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Tips
• Back-to-School Safety Series: Wake Up to Drowsy Driving
• Back-to-School Safety Series: Zero Tolerance Starts at Home
• Back-to-School Safety Series: Eyes on the Road, Hands on the Wheel, Minds on What Matters

Back-to-School Safety Series: Eyes on the Road, Hands on the Wheel, Minds on What Matters

By Nicholas Worrell, Chief, Safety Advocacy Division

 Parents and teens, please read this blog together (not while you’re driving!).

When you hear “distracted driving,” you probably immediately think of the endless “don’t text and drive” campaigns across the nation each year. This is not without good reason—texting and driving is certainly one of the deadliest forms of distraction. Reading or responding to a text takes your eyes from the road for 5 seconds. If you’re traveling at 55 mph, that’s enough time to drive the entire length of a football field.

Today’s teens have grown up with near-constant access to social media. Some teens text and drive, even though they acknowledge it’s dangerous. According to a recent AAA poll, 94% of teen drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving, but 35% admitted to doing it anyway. Modern teens are often inseparable from their phones. It’s hard to think of a scenario in which a teen isn’t pulling out a device to text, take a selfie, or access social media. Most of the time, this is a minor annoyance to those competing for a teen’s attention, but this habit playing out behind the wheel could kill someone.

Distracted driving can be as deadly as driving impaired—the law supports this fact. New laws are being implemented across the nation to curb distracted driving; for example, an Oregon law that went into effect July 1st punishes distracted drivers with consequences akin to those incurred by DUI offenders. And, like many of the other topics we’ve covered in our Back-to-School Safety Series—impairment, drowsy driving, and seat belts—“Eliminate Distractions” is on our Most Wanted List of transportation safety improvements.

But what many fail to realize is that distracted driving is more harmful for teens than DUI—teens who text and drive are involved in 6 times more car accidents than their drunk‑driving counterparts, making it statistically even more dangerous to drive distracted than to drink and drive (and that’s saying something, considering the common knowledge that drinking and driving is an often fatal, horrible idea). Distracted driving kills more teens than drunk driving. A 20-year-old’s reaction time while talking on a cell phone is equal to the reaction time of 70-year-old. Texting while driving increases crash risk 23 times over for drivers of all ages. Texting while driving now accounts for 1.6 million crashes a year—that’s 25% of all car crashes. It’s a bigger issue than a few typed words on a little cell phone screen would seem.

As we mentioned in our introductory blog, if children grow up watching their parents drive distracted without major incident, they’ll see the danger as slight and the behavior as acceptable. But what your children don’t know is that whether it’s the first time or the fiftieth, at any moment the statistics can catch up to you. The good news is that 62 percent of teens say they don’t text and drive when their parents remind them not to—so, starting now, remind your kids about the dangers of distracted driving, and then practice what you preach.

Take a moment now and talk about it. Make a family rule on distraction and hold each other accountable.

Back-to-School Safety Series: Zero Tolerance Starts at Home

By Leah Walton, NTSB Safety Advocate

As teen drivers head back to school—and all the daily exposure to peer influence that implies—remember that you have influence, too. That’s especially important when the subject is impaired driving.

You already know that driving impaired is dangerous, but underage drinking and driving is especially deadly. In the United States, 19% of drivers age 15 to 20 involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes had a BAC of at least 0.08%.

Impairment begins with the first drink or the moment a mind- or mood-altering substance is ingested, inhaled, or injected. Teenagers drive under the influence of drugs other than alcohol in astonishing numbers; among the 62.6% of students nationwide who drove during the 30 days before a 2017 survey, 5.5% had driven a car or other vehicle one or more times when they had been drinking alcohol, and 16.5% had ridden one or more times in a vehicle driven by someone who had been drinking. Another survey showed that 19-year-old drivers drive under the influence of drugs at the staggering rate of 16%.

It’s important to point out that a broad range of drugs can be impairing. Illicit, prescribed, and over-the-counter drugs can all impair a driver. Whether it’s an allergy medication from the drug store or a prescription from a doctor, if the warning label reads, “do not operate heavy machinery,” that includes a car; driving should be avoided until the side effects pass.

As a group, teenagers are at higher risk of experimenting with drugs or alcohol than adults. Teens’ brains are still developing and they’re less able to control their impulses than adults. It’s easy to see how teens can feel fearless in the face of tragedies they assume will “never happen to them”—until they do. The threat of injury from impaired driving crashes shouldn’t be the only deterrent. Consuming any alcohol at all under the age of 21 is illegal. All states have zero-tolerance laws for drivers under 21, meaning that driving with any or a very low BAC comes with great consequence. Teens who drive impaired can face DUI “school,” a lifelong conviction on their arrest record, and even jail time. And as more states begin to legalize marijuana, it’s a good time to remind teens that driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) is illegal and, more importantly, can be deadly.

End Alcohol and Other Drug Impairment in Transportation is on the NTSB’s Most Wanted List of transportation safety improvements, and it applies to drivers of all ages. But young drivers (ages 16­­–20) are 17 times more likely to die in a crash when they have a BAC of .08% than when they have not been drinking. Although the number of underage impaired driving crashes has decreased over the past decade, in 2016, alcohol was still a factor in 20 percent of fatal crashes involving teens.

For teenagers, the world is small, and nebulous concepts like dying in a car crash are more easily heard than taken to heart. Talk to your teen about the dangers of impaired driving—share with them a story of someone in your community who was killed or injured as the result of a drunk or drugged driver. Make clear to your teen that a poor choice, such as driving impaired, can negatively affect the rest of their life; for example, even if no one is hurt in an impaired-driving incident, a DUI, DWI, or DUID on your teen’s record can disqualify him or her from getting certain jobs as an adult.

Maybe most importantly: lead by example. Make it a household rule that driving impaired by any substance is unacceptable, and hold yourself to that rule. Choose to drink or drive, but not both. At the same time, assure your teen that if he or she does slip up and drink or do drugs, they can—and should—always call you or another trusted adult for a ride home. There may be a consequence to their choice, but it will never be as severe as what impaired driving could bring.

Be aware of the influences your teen faces at school every day, and counteract any negative ones with your own. Set the standard in your home and prep your teen up for success as the pressures of the school year go into full swing.

Back-to-School Safety: Wake Up to Drowsy Driving

By Stephanie Shaw, NTSB Safety Advocate

Drowsy driving isn’t just a teen driver problem—it’s an every driver problem. However, a AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study found that young drivers are at the greatest risk of being involved in a fatal drowsy driving crash.

From early sports practices and school start times to the demands of classwork, homework, and after-school activities, school days leave little time for sleep. It’s no surprise teens are skipping sleep to keep up—how else would they have time to balance extracurriculars, schoolwork, classroom hours, and socializing?

Getting behind the wheel a bit drowsy is probably part of your child’s daily routine, and you’ve likely accepted it as an occupational hazard of the ever-increasing to-do list your high schooler faces. What you may not know is that drowsy driving can be just as dangerous as alcohol‑impaired driving. For example, on March 20, 2016, four teens were traveling home from a weekend trip to South Padre Island, Texas. About 1:57 pm, the driver crossed the center median, lost control of the car, entered the opposing lanes of traffic, and collided with a tractor trailer.

The driver was seriously injured and her three passengers died. In the 24 hours before the crash, the driver had a window of only about 5 hours to sleep. The crash also happened at a time of day when most people commonly experience a dip in alertness and performance; in fact, the three passengers in the car were all either asleep or dozing at the time of the crash. We determined that that the driver’s loss of control was due to inattention resulting from her fatigue.

Do your best to ensure that your teen gets the right amount of sleep each night. For example, discourage your teen from using a cell phone late at night or during the night; these inhibit falling asleep and affect sleep quality. Also, limit driving time, especially between the hours of midnight and 5 am, when the body is accustomed to sleeping—this is the period of time in which the greatest number of drowsy driving crashes occur. For more ideas on ensuring your teen gets the right amount of sleep to stay alert behind the wheel, see our safety alert, Drowsy Driving Among Young Drivers.

As with all road safety lessons, it’s beneficial to lead by example and avoid driving while you’re tired. However, make sure your teen understands that adults generally need less sleep than teenagers, who are still growing and developing. While you may feel rested after 7 hours of sleep, teens need between 8 and 10 hours each night to avoid suffering the effects of fatigue. Keep in mind that your teen may have no idea how fatigued he or she is. The statement, “I only slept 4 hours last night, but I feel fine to drive,” should sound like a warning siren, not a reassurance. We are all notoriously bad judges of our own fatigue.

Work with your teens to help them manage their time so they’re getting the sleep they need. During the summer, teens’ sleep schedules often become irregular, so as they begin to plan their upcoming school schedules and enjoy their final weeks of summer vacation, teens should make sure sleep and relaxation find a prominent place on their priority list. Make sure your children know it’s not only okay, but also biologically necessary to sleep. And be aware that it’s not only acute sleep loss but also chronic sleep debt that can precede a drowsy driving crash. Losing a little sleep every night for a long time is dangerous for all drivers, but in young drivers, “minor” sleep losses over multiple nights can add up when combined with their bodies’ greater need for sleep.

Teen drivers have a lot on their plates: social life, after-school work and activities, the school day itself, homework . . . the list goes on. Older teens preparing for college may also be consumed by scholarship and college applications and test preparation, and overwhelmed by academic pressure. By encouraging youth to stay out of sleep debt and away from acute sleep deprivation, we can guarantee safer and more alert young drivers behind the wheel.