Page 40 - The EDGE Fall 2022

ANNUAL CONFERENCE & EXPO WRAP-UP

BY DON HARRIS
Jason Nelson Gabby Kuziak
School Vehicle Accidents Are Costly – Often Preventable

About half of all school vehicle accidents involve ended by another vehicle and a school vehicle backing
hitting a fixed object or parked car, often because the up. Some transportation departments require having
driver was not paying attention, but there are ways to a spotter to assist a driver for going in reverse, Nelson
mitigate some of the losses. said. A substantial majority of the accidents involve
school buses, but some claims are filed involving
In a breakout session at the Summer Conference other district-owned vehicles.
& Expo, Jason Nelson, Transportation Program
Manager for The Trust, discussed the most frequent The six most frequent incidents account for 70% of
loss types and the most costly, noting that there is the total at-fault claims reported in the past five years
some overlap. that The Trust paid out. Driver complacency can be
a major factor. “They’re not paying attention to what
The most frequent type of loss involves a collision they’re doing,” he said.
with a fixed object, such as a bollard at a fuel station.
“I’m sure you deal with these daily, or at lease on a Broken down by category, a collision with a fixed
weekly basis,” Nelson said. object accounted for 27% of the claims, and a school
vehicle stuck a parked auto, 24%. Those two account
Gabby Kuzniak, Director of Transportation for Crane for just over 50%. Unsafe turn and a bus rear-ended
Schools in Yuma, told of an actual incident: “A each amount to 16%.
school bus driver missed a turn and used the YMCA
parking lot to turn around. The parking lot contained “Hitting a parked auto could be in your own lot, but
a structure housing solar panels. Instead of using the typically it’s out on a street,” Nelson said. “We saw
driveway to drive around the panels, the driver passed a dip during the pandemic when schools closed and
underneath the solar structure, damaging both the fewer vehicles were on the streets.”
structure and the school bus. Total damage $49,000.”
An AASBO member in the audience asked if The
The second most frequent loss incident is a school Trust is seeing more accident because of an increase
vehicle hitting a parked auto. “The driver probably in hiring of less-experienced drivers. “Not from the
was not paying attention, maybe looking at the kids data we collect,” Nelson said. “In my experience,
on the bus,” Nelson said. the more veteran drivers become more complacent.
Newer drivers tend to pay more attention.”
A school vehicle collision due to making an unsafe
turn is in third place. It usually involves a left turn Kuzniak agreed: “Drivers with five or more years of
into oncoming traffic. Again, not paying attention is experience become more complacent. Newer drivers
often the cause, according to Nelson. are careful to follow the rules and the instructions.
Other losses involve the school vehicle being rear- Experienced drivers might decide to take a different
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40 THE EDGE FALL 2022