School bus crashes rising in Lafayette. But why?

A rise in the number of wrecks involving Lafayette Parish school buses has prompted a public awareness campaign, more training for drivers, questions about school dismissal times and the possibility of harsher discipline for drivers who are involved in accidents.

More than 250 crashes have involved buses since August 2010, according to data from the Lafayette Parish School System. That's about 25 percent of the 1,003 school bus crashes across Louisiana in the same period, according to the Highway Safety Research Group at LSU, which works with state agencies to compile accident data.

As for who's at fault in Lafayette Parish crashes, it's essentially split down the middle. Records show that the bus driver was ticketed for being at fault in 113 crashes, while another driver was ticketed in 129 accidents. Another three crashes resulted in no tickets.

Through March, the district had recorded 53 crashes this school year involving buses, according to data provided. But in April, Transportation Director Damon Evans said that figure had risen to around 69 accidents — the highest total in at least five years.

Besides raising concern among school officials, the increase in accidents also affects the school system's bottom line. On May 20, the school board agreed to increase its legal budget for property and liability claims by more than $830,000, in large part to pay out claims resulting from bus accidents.

What the numbers say

The Daily Advertiser reviewed bus crash data from 2010 to 2015 provided by the school system. Those records showed 43 wrecks in the 2010-11 school year, followed by 37 crashes the next year.

The number of wrecks rose to 59 in the 2012-13 year, then dropped to 53 wrecks in 2013-14, before jumping up again in 2014-15.

The types of crashes vary greatly. Buses are rear-ended, hit by oncoming cars and struck by vehicles that swerve into their lanes. Drivers back out of driveways and hit buses. Drivers fail to stop at signs and lights, hitting passing buses. Cars side-swipe buses as they try to pass.

Bus drivers themselves can also cause crashes. Records show that bus drivers have been ticketed for hitting turning vehicles, rear-ending other vehicles, hitting parked cars, backing into fences, hitting mailboxes or pulling out too quickly into traffic.

In Lafayette Parish, it's been rare that the wrecks result in serious injuries to students. Many times, injuries to bus passengers are minor, and include little more than scrapes and bruises. If another vehicle is involved, the driver or passengers can sometimes suffer more significant injuries. Mona Bernard, the district's risk management director, said some crashes have resulted in serious injuries to people in other vehicles, leading to higher claims for the school system.

Evans said the wrecks happen all over the parish — from Duson to Carencro to Youngsville to the center of Lafayette. There's no real pattern as far as accident locations, or which drivers are involved in the wrecks.

"The age of the drivers, or the experience, is not really a factor," Evans said. "It ranges from a driver who's been here a year, to a driver who's been with us for 37 years. It's not necessarily all inexperienced drivers. And it happens everywhere. It's just across the board. I've got one driver with three accidents in the last five years, and he was at fault in one of them. About two weeks ago, a bus got broadsided by a truck that was going 50 miles per hour in a 20 miles per hour zone. It was a 32-year driver. It's just hard to predict sometimes what's going to happen."

Why so many crashes?

Evans said he started noticing an uptick in bus crashes about two years ago, after school officials added a 30-minute block during the school day. That block, called a "skinny," is a Response to Intervention period that lets teachers work with struggling students in a more intimate setting. Students who are not struggling take part in enrichment activities.

The addition of the "skinny" changed school dismissal times. Middle schools are the latest to dismiss, at 3:50 p.m., putting hundreds of buses on the roads between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.

"There are just a lot more cars on the road at that time," Evans said. "Before, the schools let out at around 3:30, so we were in traffic a little earlier. Now we're right in the 4:30 and 5 o'clock traffic, and that's caused us some problems."

Sandra Billeaudeau, the district's assistant superintendent, said school arrival and dismissal times will remain the same next year. However, officials are planning a comprehensive review of system operations, including those times.

"There are many variables that could be attributed to an increase in bus accidents, all the way from driver behavior to the times, to anything in between," Billeaudeau said. "You can't just attribute it to one thing. That's not right. It could be the weather, or the roads. There are so many things that could be a factor."

Evans said he also surveys bus drivers regularly to get a sense of the challenges they see. They've told him that the most common problem is drivers who pass buses when they are stopped to drop off or pick up students.

"I see it all the time myself," Evans said. "I could talk to any driver and they tell you the same thing. At least once a day, they get passed by a car. It doesn't matter if we're on a two-lane road or a five-lane road, we're going to have someone pass our bus. It's frustrating, because that's the most unsafe thing someone can do. You don't know who is going to cross the street. You're taking someone's life in your hands."

Some parents have expressed concern about bus driver behavior they say they have witnessed.

"What about how extremely fast buses drive through neighborhoods???" parent Linsey Trivanovich Doise wrote on Facebook. Doise lives in Green Meadows subdivision, off of La Neuville Road.

"The bus for my neighborhood goes at least 40, the speed limit is 25," Doise continued. "I can't say how many times it has zoomed past me pushing my lo (little one) in the wagon — only to slam on its brakes — drop off a kid and then zoom away! It's really ridiculous. My little boy is 2 and I can't believe that the bus doesn't even slow down when it's obvious a mom and little one are walking. There's no excuse."

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Emily Butson, a mother of two, has lived in four states, and in large cities including Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Butson said she's never heard as much about school bus crashes as she has while living in Lafayette for the past three years.

"I don't know what the problem is," she said. "I have been told by my car insurance agent that this is one of the most dangerous places for drivers in general, so maybe that has something to do with it. It's just been such a surprise to us. Los Angeles is crazy, the traffic is horrible, and so it was very shocking to move here and hear about so many school bus accidents. I don't know if it's the drivers or just the environment."

Data from the Highway Safety Research Group shows that the 1,003 Louisiana school bus wrecks since 2010 resulted in 2,269 injuries to bus passengers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 8,500 to 12,000 children are injured in bus crashes each year, although 96 percent of those injuries are minor, and include scrapes, bumps and bruises.

Because of the number of accidents, Butson said she and her family have decided that their two children won't ride the bus to school, starting next year when her son starts pre-kindergarten.

"They absolutely will not ride," she said. "We'll do whatever it takes. The frequency of accidents is the biggest concern. I'd have to see a pretty significant change as far as the number of accidents in Lafayette before I would say I was OK putting the kids on the bus."

Drivers to face more training, discipline

Evans said the responding police officers decide who gets a ticket for an wreck. No matter that outcome, every wreck involving a Lafayette Parish bus driver results in the school system declaring the bus driver at fault, Evans said.

But that doesn't mean very much. Evans admitted the district has no discipline policy for drivers involved in crashes.

"We don't have anything on the books right now. Going forward, there will be," he said. "We're taking a look right now to see what we want to go forward with."

Evans said crafting such a policy can be tricky. A driver may have a crash in his or her first year, then no other incidents for more than a decade. Or a driver could go several years without a wreck, then have multiple accidents within just a few years.

"Is there some point where you get some kind of amnesty?" Evans said. "We're kind of going back and forth on that."

Officials question bus driver standards

In addition, Evans said the district is working with its insurance company to develop a program where drivers who are involved in wrecks must immediately take a refresher course.

Because of the rise in the number of crashes, bus drivers already faced more training this past spring, including reviews of state and local laws, bus maintenance, crisis management, railroad crossing, bus stop safety and bus evacuation drills. Other training will take place this summer, including a lengthy in-service at the end of July.

Raising public awareness

In recent weeks, Superintendent Donald Aguillard and Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mike Neustrom have filmed 30-second public service messages that will air on Cox Communications in the coming months. Patricia Thompson, a spokesperson for Cox Acadiana, said the commercials could start airing this summer, since some buses still are on the road to service students in summer programs.

Thompson said a few commercials could run in the summer, with an increased campaign when the new school year starts in August.

"We'll be able to figure out the right cadence," she said. "We're happy to partner with them on this. We know what channels moms and dads are watching, so we'll be able to get the spots on the high-reach networks where they can be really visible."

Meanwhile, Billeaudeau said the planned year-long review of school system operations, slated to start this summer, will include a substantial look at transportation.

"We're going to be looking at everything from our routes to the time children spend on the bus to the training of drivers," she said. "It's a plethora of things that will be under review."

Total crashes involving school buses in Lafayette Parish

2010-11 — 43

2011-12 — 37

2012-13 — 59

2013-14 — 53

2014-15 — 53*

Total crashes in which the bus driver was at fault

2010-11 — 19

2011-12 — 15

2012-13 — 25

2013-14 — 27

2014-15 — 27*

*Through March 2015