A bus is, according to the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations and the National Safety Code, any vehicle with more than 10 seats. For ECE it is any vehicle with more than 8 seats. The U.S. Federal Transit Administration funds as a bus any vehicle used for the mass transportation of persons. Although some fringe vehicles may be treated differently, it is mostly clear what is meant by "bus".

Some 1% of road collisions involve buses¹. Of those injured and killed in crashes involving buses, very few are bus passengers; 54 passengers were killed in the 10 year period 1987 to 1996². In 1996 there were none but in 1997 43 were killed in one crash³.

There is useful Canadian data on bus safety performance even though buses are a relatively small part of the Canadian vehicle fleet. Inconsistent reporting is a problem common to other road safety data compiled with information from many jurisdictions. This shows up when small numbers are involved, as is the case for buses and, even more, for specific categories of bus.

Transport Canada has a major role to play in collision data through its Traffic Accident Information Data Base (TRAID), the National Collision Data Base (NCDB) and its multidisciplinary collision investigation teams across the country. TRAID and NCDB are based on police reports transmitted via provincial information systems.

Serious bus crashes, particularly those involving school buses and large intercity buses, are documented by Transport Canada investigators.

All jurisdictions identify school buses but not all separate other categories. School buses are well defined, comprehensively regulated and easily recognized. They are also the most numerous bus category⁴. Other buses are not as well defined and are more likely to have interchangeable or overlapping duties. There is an argument for not attempting to separate other bus categories when collecting macro data. The location of an incident, urban or rural, highway or byway, for example, could be more relevant than the category.

Identifying a vehicle for detailed investigation is best achieved through its Vehicle Identification Number. Ideally the Vehicle Identification Number of each vehicle involved would be part of a police report. This will be potentially reliable when electronic readers are practical and widely available.

For exposure purposes bus operational data is available through Statistics Canada⁴. Categorization of these data could become blurred in future with some industry changes taking place. They cover companies with over $250,000 annual revenue, which could mean that a number of small operators as well as buses used for private transportation are missed. The upcoming Statistics Canada "Canadian Vehicle Survey" is designed to improve exposure information by vehicle class, including bus.

Table 1: 1995 road crashes: - number by vehicle type and injury

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1995 was used for Table 1 because it was a representative year. The figures are not accurate enough in detail to analyse fine differences between the safety performance of different vehicle types. They suggest, however, that buses neither have immunity from crashes nor represent an extraordinary road safety risk. Buses share the hazards of the road with other vehicles.

The table uses vehicle registration as a surrogate for exposure to risk of collision. More interesting exposure measures, such as vehicle kilometers traveled, passenger trips or passenger kilometers, are difficult to derive accurately in such a way as to coincide with collision data. Using vehicle kilometers traveled would probably lower bus and truck accident rates relative to passenger cars. Using passenger measures would lower bus occupant injury rates to place buses among the safest modes of transport.

Buses do, however, have accidents. Countermeasures, as they become technologically feasible, are necessary both to prevent incidents and to mitigate them when they inevitably happen.

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Transport Canada program – Bus Data

1. Through the National Task Force on Road Safety Data, Transport Canada leads an ongoing effort to establish the best possible national statistics on bus safety.
2. Transport Canada maintains the National Collision Data Base (NCDB) which replaces the Traffic Accident Information Database (TRAID) and includes information on bus collisions.
3. Statistics Canada is, on behalf of Transport Canada, establishing the "Canadian Vehicle Survey" designed to improve vehicle exposure data by vehicle class, including bus.
4. Transport Canada collision investigation teams investigate serious bus collisions as a priority.

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Footnotes

1. National Road Safety Monitoring Report, July 1997

2. Extract from TRAID, November 1998

3. Transport Canada collision report ASF3-1314

4. Statistics Canada "Passenger Bus and Urban Transit Statistics" 53-215-XPB

5. Statistics Canada "Road Motor Vehicle Registrations" 53-219 XBP 1995

6. Total deaths, 3,347 (TP 3322 revised), less driver and pedestrian deaths

7. Extract from TRAID, August 1998

8. 1995 Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics Transport Canada TP 3322

9.  Not necessarily struck by the bus - extract from TRAID, August 1998

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