A significant number of bus accidents result from negligence of bus drivers. Bus drivers are professional drivers who must have a commercial driver’s license (CDL), have considerable experience and driving skills, and follow exacting safety rules and restrictions. When bus drivers fail to live up to their safety responsibilities behind the wheel, dangerous bus accidents can result. Unfortunately, bus driver negligence can come in a wide range of dangerous forms. Failure to Follow the Rules of the Road When bus drivers ignore the rules of the road, they greatly increase the risk of an accident. Pushing lights, rolling through stop signs, failing to signal lane changes, and other examples of a lax adherence to the rules can all prove exceptionally dangerous behind the wheel of a bus. Distraction Distraction is an exceedingly dangerous form of driver negligence, and it is becoming more and more of a problem on the streets of St. Louis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists three basic categories of distraction, including: Distractions that catch a driver’s eye Distractions that require a driver to remove their hands from the wheel Distractions that absorb a driver’s thoughts Texting is a distraction capable of melding all three of these dangerous forms of distraction into one colossal distraction. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicates that it takes an average of about five seconds to read or send a text. If the driver texts at highway speeds, they keep eyes, hands, and thoughts otherwise occupied for about the length of a football field. The CDC shares that in one year alone, distracted drivers injured more than 400,000 people and killed another 2,800. Additionally, NHTSA also reports that 3,143 people lost their lives to distracted driving. The danger associated with distracted bus drivers is very real. Impairment The law harshly punishes commercial drivers who drive while impaired by alcohol or other drugs. Alcohol is associated with physical, cognitive, and sensory impairments that render bus drivers unsafe. According to the Missouri Department of Transportation's standards, offenses that disqualify people from holding Commercial Driver's Licenses include driving a commercial motor vehicle, such as a bus, while under the influence of alcohol (regardless of the driver’s blood alcohol concentration—BAC) and driving with a BAC of 0.04 percent or higher (which is far lower than for noncommercial drivers). Further, carrying a CDL implies consent for alcohol testing in any jurisdiction throughout the nation. Exhaustion Long hours behind the wheel can be exhausting, and bus drivers are no exception to this rule. The effects of exhaustion on drivers are becoming better understood, and the upshot is not encouraging. Consider the following National Safety Council (NSC) statistics: Motorists’ ability to react safely to risk factors on the road, ability to sustain their attention, and ability to identify hazards on the road generally all decline in direct relation to how drowsy the drivers are. Motorists who have been without sleep for more than 20 hours experience impairments that rival those experienced by drivers who are over the legal limit (0.08 percent BAC). Fatigued motorists are three times more likely to be involved in traffic accidents. Drowsy bus drivers are dangerous bus drivers. Excess Speed Buses are immense, which means that they require longer stopping distances. Excess speed exacerbates the issue. The NSC shares that in addition to increasing stopping distances, excess speed leaves drivers less time to react safely to dangers on the road and decreases the efficacy of safety structures on the road, including guardrails, crash cushions, concrete barriers, and more. Further, in a recent year, excess speed played a primary role in a full 26 percent of all traffic deaths. Speeding makes accidents more likely and increases the chances of fatal accidents. Bus drivers who choose to exceed the posted speed limit or who drive too fast for the condition of the road, including the effects of bad weather, make bus accidents far more likely.