In 1995, a typical year, of 1,194,589 vehicles involved in collisions, 8057 were buses of all kinds. The first key to reducing bus collisions is to address road safety in general, all aspects of roads, all road vehicles and all drivers. Buses will benefit from, and need to contribute to, improved overall road safety.

The majority of victims of bus collisions, close to 62% of the 496 total fatalities in the ten years to 1996, are drivers and passengers in other involved vehicles, mostly cars and light trucks. The second key to reducing the toll of collisions involving buses is therefore to protect the occupants of cars and light trucks. This requires those lighter vehicles to have comprehensive and complex occupant protection including seat belts, air bags and other passive or crash deploying devices.

Bus passengers represent 11% of the 496 total fatalities in collisions involving buses during the ten years to 1996. In 1995 there were 5 bus passengers among the 3,347 total road deaths. In 1996 there were no bus passenger fatalities. Bus passenger protection is therefore, according to the data, a subject very different from occupant protection in lighter vehicles. The objective is to make buses as safe as possible for their passengers but extraordinary measures are not indicated.

There are more school buses, over 20,000 in Canada, than any other single category of bus. School buses are defined in federal and provincial regulations, are readily recognizable and are used for a specific purpose, mostly funded by provincial governments. Over the ten years to 1996 there was an average of four pedestrian deaths around school buses and one death inside a school bus each year. School bus safety, with a variety of specific operating conditions and a wide range of young passengers, is a unique and specialized subject.

The existing federal Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations contain comprehensive school bus passenger protection standards, including tight specifications for seat design and installation such that school buses provide the wide variety of school age passengers with an effective passive safety system. The standards are constantly reviewed in the light of knowledge gained from school bus collisions, almost all of which Transport Canada investigates.

Despite a similarly good safety record, the U.S. NHTSA is undertaking a research program to investigate how injuries occur in school buses and to test different seating configurations. Being involved with the U.S. research program will help Transport Canada to identify possible improvements.

Intercity and charter buses are familiar on the highway but are less numerous than transit or other, usually smaller, buses. The few intercity and charter bus passenger deaths (there were none in 1996) sometimes occur in a small number of catastrophic crashes. In 1997, for example, one crash involved 43 bus passenger deaths.

Some major bus collisions have led to seat belts being required on highway coaches in Australia and in Europe. There is a new ECE seat belt standard for buses with accompanying seat specifications. The presence of seat belts on highway coaches in other countries raises the issue whether they should also be considered for North American intercity buses.

There are no obvious or easy answers to improving bus safety. A number of areas of current interest are identified in the report and most are already being addressed. The general recommendations are to continue efforts to reduce overall road collisions and to consult intensively with provincial governments, industry and bus stakeholders as a first step towards any change in bus safety regulation policy.

The number of collisions involving buses suggests that an effort to reduce the overall incidence of road collisions will make a major contribution to bus safety. The mechanisms for such an effort are largely in place. Much work is under way through Road Safety Vision 2001, through ongoing programs under the federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the National Safety Code for Motor Carriers, and by provincial governments.