F PB97-916201

NTSB/HAR-97/01/SUM

NATIONAL

TRANSPORTATION

SAFETY

BOARD

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20594

HIGHWAY ACCIDENT/INCIDENT SUMMARY REPORT

COLLISION WITH A PEDESTRIAN

BY A UTILITY TRUCK 

NEAR COSMOPOLIS, WASHINGTON

ON NOVEMBER 26, 1996

6910
Abstract: On November 26, 1996, a utility truck collided with and fatally injured a 10-year-old student near

Cosmopolis, Washington. The child had just exited a transit bus that had transported him from school to his

residence. No other injuries were involved.

The major safety issues discussed in this report are the inequity between the safety of children transported

on school buses and the safety of children transported on transit buses and the lack of a mechanism in place to

document and define the safety risks of pupil transportation by transit buses.

As a result of its investigation, the Safety Board issued recommendations to the U.S. Department of

Transportation, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, the American Public

Transit Association, and the Community Transportation Association of America.

The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent Federal agency dedicated to promoting aviation,

railroad, highway, marine, pipeline, and hazardous materials safety. Established in 1967, the agency is mandated

by Congress through the Independent Safety Board Act of 1974 to investigate transportation accidents, determine

the probable causes of the accidents, issue safety recommendations, study transportation safety issues, and

evaluate the safety effectiveness of government agencies involved in transportation. The Safety Board makes

public its actions and decisions through accident reports, safety studies, special investigation reports, safety

recommendations, and statistical reviews.

Information about available publications may be obtained by contacting:

National Transportation Safety Board

Public Inquiries Section, RE-51

490 L’Enfant Plaza, SW

Washington, DC 20594

(202) 314-6551

Safety Board publications may be purchased, by individual copy or by subscription, from:

National Technical Information Service

5285 Port Royal Road

Springfield, Virginia 22161

(703) 487-4600
COLLISION WITH A PEDESTRIAN

BY A UTILITY TRUCK

NEAR COSMOPOLIS, WASHINGTON

NOVEMBER 26, 1996

HIGHWAY ACCIDENT/INCIDENT

SUMMARY REPORT

Adopted: October 17, 1997

Notation 6910

NATIONAL

TRANSPORTATION

SAFETY BOARD

Washington, DC 20594

NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD

Washington, D C 20594-2000

HIGHWAY ACCIDENT/INCIDENT SUMMARY

Vehicle: 1993 Ford F-350 utility truck

Accident Type: Collision with pedestrian

Location: Cosmopolis, Washington

Date: November 26, 1996

Time: 3:20 p.m.

Owner/Operator: Seldoim Tree Farm Company

Occupants: Driver and passenger

Damage: Minor damage to truck

Injuries: One pedestrian fatality

About 3:20 p.m. on November 26, 1996,

near Cosmopolis, Washington, a utility truck

collided with and fatally injured a 10-yearold child who darted from behind a transit

bus that had transported him from school to

his residence. The transit bus had stopped in

the northbound lane of North River Road

(opposite the residence) and had activated its

headlights and four-way flashers.

Meanwhile, a southbound utility truck

proceeded around a curve in the road and

approached the bus. (See figure 1.) When its

driver saw the bus with its lights activated,

he slowed the truck to a speed of about 20

mph. As the truckdriver came to a near stop,

the lights on the transit bus were

deactivated, and the busdriver began to drive

away from the stop. At the same time the

truckdriver began to accelerate, the child ran

out from behind the transit bus, and the

utility truck struck him.

During its investigation, the National

Transportation Safety Board determined that

children riding transit buses to and from

school are not provided an equivalent level

of safety as those children who ride school

buses. In addition, the Safety Board found

no mechanism in place that documents the

extent to which transit buses are being used

to transport children to and from school.

The following discussion includes a

narrative description of the accident, a

consideration of the safety issues, a list of

conclusions drawn from the Safety Board

investigation, and a set of recommendations

developed to help prevent a recurrence of

incidents of this type.
2 

Figure 1 -- Photograph of accident scene
 3

INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS

Accident Narrative

A Gray’s Harbor Transit bus was

transporting 19 students, who were between

the ages of 4 and 17 years, from the North

River School to their homes on November

26. No other passengers were on board the

bus. The sky was cloudy, and the

temperature was about 50 °F at the time of

the accident.

The busdriver stopped the bus about 3:20

p.m. in the northbound lane for a 10-yearold child to exit on North River Road across

the street from his house. The road was wet

because it had rained earlier in the day. The

busdriver said that she activated the

headlights and the four-way flashers and

opened the front door. The child departed

and walked toward the rear of the bus. A

vehicle, according to its two occupants, was

stopped between 60 and 100 feet behind the

transit bus. They witnessed the child exit the

bus and said that he went to the rear of the

bus and was looking in their direction before

he ran across the road.

In the meantime, a utility truck was

southbound on North River Road. Its driver

and a passenger were returning home from

work at a logging site. They saw the transit

bus with its headlights and four-way flashers

activated as the truck rounded a curve in the

road. The truckdriver said that he did not

know the reason for the bus being stopped

but thought that it might be having

mechanical problems. He had slowed his

truck speed to approximately 20 mph. He

stated that when he was between 50 and 100

feet from the transit bus, the headlights and

four-way flashers were turned off. He then

began to accelerate his truck, when a child

ran out from behind the bus in front of the

truck. He said that he immediately braked

the truck and steered it to the right, striking

the child with the left front of the truck. (See

figure 2.) The child received fatal injuries on

impact.

Injuries

The 10-year-old child sustained skull

fractures and lung lacerations. The accident

involved no other injuries or fatalities.

Highway Information

North River Road is a north/south,

winding, asphalt road bordered by woods in

a mountainous and sparsely populated rural

area. The speed limit at the site of the

accident is 35 mph. The two 12-foot-wide

lanes of the road are bordered with solid

white edgelines and separated by two solid

double-yellow lines with intermittent yellow

reflective markers.

Truckdriver Information

The truckdriver, who was unfamiliar with

the area, was returning home from work

when the collision occurred. During their

investigation at the accident scene and in

their contact with the truckdriver, the police

found no evidence that he was impaired by

alcohol, drugs, or fatigue.

Truck Information

The 1993 Ford F-350 utility truck was

owned by its operator. The police conducted

a mechanical inspection of the vehicle and

found no deficiencies.
4 

Figure 2 – Diagram of accident scene

Bus Operations

The 1977 American General 41-

passenger transit bus, which was not

involved in the collision, was owned by the

Gray’s Harbor Transit in Aberdeen,

Washington. The company operates 41

transit buses and 19 vans within a 2,000-

square-mile area of Gray’s Harbor County,

Washington. It employs 48 full-time and 12

part-time drivers. The company requires its

drivers to pass a driving evaluation test and

periodic evaluations and provides them with

an operator’s manual that details the

requirements and responsibilities of the

position. It had no training available for the

drivers that was specific to the transportation

of school children.

The accident bus was operating in

“tripper service.” Title 49 Code of Federal

Regulations (CFR) 605.3 defines this service

as:

[A] regularly scheduled mass transit

transportation service which is open to

the public, and which is designed or

modified to accommodate the needs of

school students and personnel, using

various fare collections or subsidy

systems. Buses used in tripper service

must be clearly marked as open to the
 5

public and may not carry designations

such as “school bus” or “school

special.” These buses may stop only at

a grantee or operator’s regular route

service as indicated in their published

route schedules.

Transit buses operating in tripper service are

prohibited under 49 CFR 605.3 from using

certain equipment that school buses have,

including the side-mounted stop sign, stop

arm, and flashing red lights.

Gray’s Harbor Transit had verbal

contracts with two school districts to

transport children to and from school. The

contract with the North River School

District, in which the accident occurred,

required the busdriver to make a head count

every day to determine how much to charge

the school district. The transit bus would

pick up the children at the assigned stops,

transport the students to school, and then be

parked at the bus depot. Should other people

flag the bus along its route, the busdriver

would have to stop and allow them to board,

and these riders would pay the normal transit

bus fare.

School Transportation Oversight

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA)

within the U. S. Department of

Transportation (DOT) administers grants to

the transit industry. Federal regulations define

the overall operation of transit authorities but

do not specify operating rules, and the transit

companies throughout the country establish

their own operating rules. The FTA is

prohibited from providing funds to transit

companies who “engage in school bus

operations exclusively for the transportation

of students and school personnel, in

competition with private school bus

operations.” Although an industrywide set of

standards by which transit districts pattern

their operating rules has not been

established, the operating rules appear

similar from district to district.

In 1995 the National School

Transportation Association, an organization

primarily of independent school

transportation contractors, published the

paper, “Keeping Children Safe: Yellow

School Buses Vs. Transit Buses,” that states:

There are exceptions, but the basic

principle is clear: transit operators are

forbidden to provide pupil

transportation services....transit

providers may operate school buses if

[according to the Federal Transit Act

of 1964] “private school bus operators

in the area are unable to provide

adequate transportation, at a

reasonable rate, and in conformance

with applicable safety standards.”

The regulations are aimed at

preventing unfair competition, not at

keeping young people from riding on a

regularly scheduled transit busespecially if that route happens to be

headed where they want to go.

Ironically enough, however, a great

many school bus contractors also

operate transit buses-and they are

among the most adamant about the

value of the yellow school bus in

student transportation. The president

of one such company was quoted

recently as saying that when it comes

to transporting children to and from

school, transit buses are

uneconomical, poorly designed and

less safe.

The Washington Department of Public

Instruction (WDPI) oversees school
6 

transportation in the State of Washington.

School buses and their operation are subject

to Federal and State regulations specifically

designed to protect the occupants. School

buses are clearly distinguishable vehicles

equipped with special safety features.

Federal standards establish performance and

use requirements for flashing lights and stop

arm signals to minimize the possibility of

vehicles passing a stopped school bus and

striking pedestrians. Motorists in all States

are required to stop while the children enter

or leave a stopped school bus. Additionally

in an effort to prevent pedestrian accidents,

all school districts within the States have

established operational requirements for

school buses. For example, California

requires school busdrivers in some

circumstances to exit the school bus with the

students and ensure that they cross the road

safely. Washington requires that any student

exiting a school bus walk to the front of the

bus around a 7-foot-long arm and wait for

the busdriver to motion that it is safe to

cross the road.

While school bus operational

requirements actively protect passengers,

transit bus operational requirements are

passive and do not provide an equivalent

level of safety for children riding to and

from school. (See table 1 for a comparison

of the bus requirements.) All States provide

school busdrivers with initial and in-service

training that pertains to safe operating

practices concerning the children as well as

safe driving practices. Transit bus operations

do not provide this type of training to their

busdrivers.

Table 1. Comparison of school bus with transit bus requirements

School Bus Transit Bus

Painted bright yellow All colors

“School Bus” markings Different markings

Red stop arms on left side None

Many have front walk-around gates None

Large red top-mounted flashing lights Amber four-way flashers

Laws require motorists to stop vehicles

while children enter or leave a stopped

bus

None

Although Washington has specific

procedures regarding school bus operations,

no procedures or regulations have been

established that pertain to children riding

transit buses to and from school. In this

accident, Gray’s Harbor Transit had written

ridership rules for its transit buses. These

rules are available for everyone, including

students, who ride its transit buses.

Specifically, number 11 of Gray’s ridership

rules states:

After the passenger has disembarked

from the bus, he/she shall stand clear

until it has pulled away. Never cross in

front of nor directly behind the bus.

Drivers are not responsible for

passengers once they leave the bus.
 7

All children who rode transit buses were

provided with a copy of the ridership rules;

however, they were not tested in the practice

or on the knowledge of the rules. In addition,

whether children too young to read have

been taught these rules is not clear.

In April 1996 the National Association of

State Directors of Pupil Transportation

Services (NASDPTS) issued the position

paper, “Transporting the Nation’s School

Children [School Buses - Transit Buses]” that

states:

Over the past few decades, the largest

school transportation safety problem

has been in the school bus loading

zone, where children get on and off the

bus. The Federal requirement that

school buses have flashing lights on the

front and rear, and a stop signal arm on

the left side, provide notice to passing

motorists to stop their vehicles in

accordance with State law. Stopping

traffic in areas where children get on

and off school buses, and are often

crossing the street, has proven to be

beneficial in protecting students who

must cross the street to reach the bus or

go home. Stopping traffic creates a

safer environment for young children

who are not as adept as adults with

negotiating their way through traffic.

In most States, there is no mandate to

provide students with transportation to

or from school. Accordingly, funding

for school transportation in those States

does not always receive a high priority

in budget decisions as mandated

education programs, e.g., facilities,

teacher salaries, computers, and books.

Even in States where transportation of

students to and from school is required

by law, funding shortfalls in recent

years have created problems in

maintaining an adequate school

transportation program. As a result of

budget constraints, many schools are

being forced to seek alternative means

of providing transportation services for

students. A growing number of school

districts are turning to public transit

buses as a means of getting students to

and from school each day.

The State Directors Association

realizes that the transit industry is a

major provider of home-to-school

transportation, and the number of

students using public transportation

will continue to increase in the future

due primarily to budgetary decisions.

Accordingly, the State Directors

Association strongly urges members of

the pupil transportation and public

transportation communities to join

forces to mutually ensure the safe

transportation of students on transit

vehicles.

An inequity exists between the safety of

children transported on school buses and the

safety of children transported on transit buses.

Those children transported on school buses

have an adult (the school busdriver) responsible for their safety, even as a pedestrian

boarding and exiting the bus. On the other

hand, those children riding transit buses are

responsible for their own safety. Although a

9- or 10-year-old child may be able to follow

certain rules, expecting a 4- to 6-year-old

child to follow rules about crossing roads as

well as to judge vehicle speeds and distances

to determine when it is safe to cross a road is

not realistic. To expect young children to be

responsible for their safety in this type of environment is not reasonable.
8 

In the 104th U.S. Congress, Senator Frank

R. Lautenberg and Representative James

Traficant introduced legislation covering a

number of school bus safety issues. No

action, however, was taken on this legislation.

Additionally, Congressman Traficant

introduced H.R. 1993 – School Bus Safety

Act to Congress on June 19, 1997. Part of this

proposed act requires the Secretary of the

DOT to enter into an agreement with the

Transportation Research Board of the

National Academy of Sciences to study

relevant safety issues involving school

children that would encompass analyzing

transportation modes, including the public

transit used to transport students to and from

school. The study is to consider available

crash injury data and, if it is unavailable or

insufficient, recommend a new data

collection regimen and implementation

guidelines.

The Safety Board recognizes that the use

of transit buses and alternative modes of

transporting children may be practical, and

even necessary, in certain situations.

However, the Safety Board concludes that

existing Federal regulations and prohibitions

are clearly designed to afford school

children the highest level of safety while

being transported to and from school.

Should these alternative modes be used

primarily to transport children to and from

school each day, safety practices must be

developed to provide the same level of safety

that the children would obtain while riding on

a school bus. The Safety Board also

concludes that had safety practices similar to

those for school buses been in place, the

fatality in this accident may not have

occurred. Therefore, the Safety Board

believes that the DOT, the NASDPTS, the

American Public Transit Association

(APTA), and the Community Transportation

Association of America, together, should

work to collect accident data involving school

children riding on transit buses and determine

the most appropriate means to ensure that

school children riding on transit buses in

tripper service are afforded an equivalent

level of operational safety as school children

riding on school buses.

Postaccident Actions

After the accident, the North River School

District purchased a school bus with the

financial assistance of the WDPI. This bus,

operated by school district personnel, is being

used to transport the children who live along

North River Road to and from school. A

Gray’s Harbor Transit bus continues to

transport children living in Aberdeen and

Cosmopolis, as well as Artic Store,

Washington, to and from school; however,

these routes do not have stops that require the

children to cross the street at unprotected

locations.

Extent of Situation

As a result of this accident, the Safety

Board attempted to determine the number of

students who are transported on transit buses,

the number of children transported by tripper

service compared with by mass transit, and

the number of accidents that involved transit

buses. Washington has 25 school districts,

18 of which use transit vehicles to transport

children. The State, however, makes no

distinction between transit buses

transporting children in tripper service and

children using mass transit service.

In the United States, approximately

400,000 school buses transport 22.5 million

children daily to and from school, which is a

total of 10 billion student rides a year. This

number represents an average of only 55.2
 9

percent of all students attending school. The

remaining students either walk, ride bicycles,

or use some other mode of transportation.

There are no definitive statistics on the

number of transit buses used in tripper

service.

According to the NASDPTS, the APTA

estimates that transit buses provided over 900

million student-related passenger trips in

1994. This figure translates into

approximately 2 million students (8 percent

of all public school students) who rode transit

buses to and from school each school day.

Out of the total student rides, 15 percent of all

pupil transportation is accomplished through

public transit, which includes shuttle buses,

taxis, public ferries, and light rail.

Tripper Service Safety Practices

The differences in the operational

practices and equipment between school

buses and transit buses in tripper service can

be critical. This accident probably would not

have occurred had markings identified the

transit bus as carrying school children to

motorists, had a law required motorists to

stop, and had the transit busdriver been

responsible to assist the child. In contrast, had

this child been transported by a school bus: 1)

the truckdriver would have known that the

stopped bus in the road was carrying students,

and he would have been required to stop; 2)

the child would have crossed the road in front

of the school bus while it was stopped with

flashing lights and possibly a stop arm and

stop bar activated; and 3) the school busdriver

would have watched the child until he was

safely across the road.

This incident is not an isolated case. In

February 1995 in Austin, Texas, another 10-

year-old child exited a transit bus, walked in

front of it, and was crossing the road a few

feet from the crosswalk when a vehicle

collided with and fatally injured him. In

January 1997 in Dallas, Texas, a 9-year-old

child departed a transit bus that then struck

and killed her when she was returning home

from school. Consequently, the Safety Board

concludes that transit buses do not provide an

equivalent level of operational safety when

transporting school children.

Accident Reporting

The DOT FARS (Fatal Accident

Reporting System) reported that in 1995 less

than 0.3 percent of all fatal traffic collisions

were school bus-related. Between 1985 and

1995, a total of 456 school bus-related

fatalities occurred; of which 156 fatalities had

been bus occupants and 300 fatalities had

been pedestrians. No statistics on pupilrelated transit bus collisions exist because no

reporting system is in place that codes transit

bus (in tripper service) accidents as pupil

transportation. The transit industry indicates

that traveling by transit buses is one of the

safest modes of transportation; however, a

lack of specific reporting data makes

defining the safety issue of pupil

transportation by transit buses difficult.

Therefore, the Safety Board concludes that

the lack of existing data concerning accidents

involving transit buses makes it difficult to

assess the safety risks associated with

transporting children on transit buses to and

from school.

Accidents involving transit buses in pupil

transportation can be significant, as

demonstrated in a September 8, 1993, transit

bus collision in Oakland, California, that was

reported in the Oakland Chronicle the next

day. A county transit bus, carrying 53 people,

of which 50 were school children going home

from school, went out of control and crashed,

and all 50 students received varying degrees
10 

of injuries (no fatalities). This accident was

reported as a transit bus accident and not as a

pupil transportation-related accident. As a

result of this accident, the California Highway

Patrol recommended that legislation be

enacted that would require transit bus

companies to meet the same operating rules

and regulations currently in place for school

bus and special pupil activity bus programs;

however, to date, no action has been taken.

As noted earlier, transit buses used in

tripper service transportation, by definition,

are functionally similar to school bus

transportation but with significantly different

types of operating requirements. Accident

reporting data are currently collected for

school bus-related accidents; therefore, transit

bus-related accident data should be collected

to ensure that an accurate assessment can be

made of the safety risks associated with

children riding transit buses to and from

school. Consequently, the Safety Board

believes that the DOT should collect accident

data involving school children riding on

transit buses, including pedestrian accidents,

to assist development of appropriate means to

ensure that school children riding on transit

buses are afforded an equivalent level of

operational safety as school children riding on

school buses.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings

1. Existing Federal regulations and

prohibitions are clearly designed to afford

school children the highest level of safety

while being transported to and from

school.

2. Had safety practices similar to those for

school buses been in place, the fatality in

this accident may not have occurred.

3. Transit buses do not provide an

equivalent level of operational safety

when transporting school children.

4. The lack of existing data concerning

accidents involving transit buses makes it

difficult to assess the safety risks

associated with transporting children on

transit buses to and from school.

Probable Cause

The National Transportation Safety Board

determines that the probable cause of this

accident was the lack of adequate safety

procedures and equipment (similar to those in

place for school bus operations) to ensure the

safety of children being discharged from

transit buses in tripper service.
 11

RECOMMENDATIONS

--to the U. S. Department of

Transportation:

Collect accident data involving school

children riding on transit buses,

including pedestrian accidents, to assist

development of appropriate means to

ensure that school children riding on

transit buses are afforded an equivalent

level of operational safety as school

children riding on school buses. (H-97-

26)

Work with the National Association of

State Directors of Pupil Transportation

Services, the American Public Transit

Association, and the Community

Transportation Association of America

to determine the most appropriate

means to ensure that school children

riding on transit buses in tripper service

are afforded an equivalent level of

operational safety as school children

riding on school buses. (H-97-27)

--to the National Association of State

Directors of Pupil Transportation

Services:

Work with the U.S. Department of

Transportation, the American Public

Transit Association, and the

Community Transportation Association

of America to collect accident data

involving school children riding on

transit buses and determine the most

appropriate means to ensure that school

children riding on transit buses in

tripper service are afforded an

equivalent level of operational safety as

school children riding on school buses.

(H-97-28)

--to the American Public Transit

Association:

Work with the U.S. Department of

Transportation, the National

Association of State Directors of Pupil

Transportation Services, and the

Community Transportation Association

of America to collect accident data

involving school children riding on

transit buses and determine the most

appropriate means to ensure that school

children riding on transit buses in

tripper service are afforded an

equivalent level of operational safety as

school children riding on school buses.

(H-97-29)

--to the Community Transportation

Association of America

Work with the U.S. Department of

Transportation, the National

Association of State Directors of Pupil

Transportation Services, and the

American Public Transit Association to

collect accident data involving school

children riding on transit buses and

determine the most appropriate means

to ensure that school children riding on

transit buses in tripper service are

afforded an equivalent level of

operational safety as school children

riding on school buses. (H-97-30)
12 

BY THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD

JAMES E. HALL

Chairman

ROBERT T. FRANCIS II

Vice Chairman

JOHN A. HAMMERSCHMIDT

Member

JOHN J. GOGLIA

Member

GEORGE W. BLACK, JR

Member

October 17, 1997