It seems as if keeping track of bus crashes in the U.S., and the injuries and deaths they cause, is as hard as trying to keep track of the white-tailed deer population in the Adirondacks.
The job of the former is supposed to be the responsibility of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). When NHTSA tries to calculate bus accident fatalities, it relies on the massive reporting system known as FARS, which is supposed to hold detailed records of every fatal bus crash in the country.
But the problem is the system contains no official definition for bus. As a result, statisticians must rely on a crude approximation for these vehicles, which in NHTSA parlance is known as "Cross Country/Intercity Motor Coach." Some bus accidents, as a result, are not reported because they are listed under other categories.
As is the case with most, if not all, government agencies, there’s plenty of finger pointing going around at the NHTSA. Agency officials claim they are being held hostage by the information they receive from local authorities. The agency claims it has tried for years to improve the data reporting from the thousands of municipalities it monitors. They have held training sessions for state officials on how to properly code the data. But, mistakes still occur.
For example, in the case of a bus crash in Tallulah, Louisiana, in 2003 the accident is listed under the category "Unknown Bus Type." But, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) described and catalogued the vehicle as a motor coach in its investigation and in a recommendation to NHTSA.
In this instance -- not unlike the horrific Bronx, New York, crash that killed 15 people recently -- a sleepy driver of the bus carrying members of the First Baptist Church of Eldorado, weaved erratically for miles before swerving off the interstate and striking a parked tractor trailer. The impact crushed the front of the bus and ripped loose seats. Eight people were killed and the incident made national headlines. An investigation by the NTSB, which monitors safety and investigates crashes, blamed the fatigued driver, and raised broad safety concerns about inadequate federal oversight and poor seat design.
But as a consequence of the mixed-up labeling of the vehicle, if lawmakers, or the public, tried to search for the names of the people who were killed in this crash, they would not find them. In fact, they would find completely inaccurate information.
According to the NHTSA’s report of this accident, the agency said only two occupants died in 2003, when in fact 8 people were killed in the crash. Then the agency updated its number to three in testimony months later before the Senate's Surface Transportation Subcommittee.
According to a recent report in USA Today, federal accident data, news reports and interviews with local law enforcement authorities reveal at least 14 accidents and 32 bus occupant deaths were not reported in NHTSA's official tally of motor coach crashes from 2003 to 2009.
"When I think about the deaths that I know about and I look at the annual data that NHTSA reports, it just doesn't add up," said one NTSB official who asked not to be identified.
"It's shocking,” he added, “to hear that many bus accidents are not accounted for because officials who code the accident information list the vehicles incorrectly.”
