Fatal Bus Accidents in Delaware
Delaware State Police does an excellent job when it comes to keeping a record of traffic accidents and segmenting the information by vehicle types. Based on this data, it’s relatively easy to assess the seriousness of Delaware bus crashes and to determine whether these contribute to numerous deaths on the road.
Fatal Bus Accident Statistics
The Delaware State Police report for 2015 shows there have been 24,066 collisions during the year. These crashes caused the death of 133 people, and the injuries were 8,058.
Most of the accidents involved passenger cars – 24,487 of which 105 had a fatal outcome. Pickup trucks are the second class of vehicle involved in the biggest number of collisions – 4,423 that caused 20 deaths.
In 2015, 164 collisions involved buses. Two people died in such accidents, and 48 were injured. These numbers don’t include data for school bus accidents, which are considered as a separate vehicle category.
Unfortunately, previous Delaware State Police reports don’t contain segmented figures, making it difficult to assess how many fatal accidents involved a bus.
Some additional data can be obtained from Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports. Here’s some of the latest FMCSA information:
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buses involved | 122 | 117 | 40 |
| Number of Crashes | 116 | 117 | 40 |
| Fatalities | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Injuries | 136 | 156 | 71 |
*2017 data is still incomplete
There’s a small difference between the FMCSA report and the local police information pertaining to the number of crashes and the number of deaths in 2015. Still, both sources confirm that fatal accidents involving such vehicles are more or less rare in the state.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, two fatal bus collisions occurred in Delaware in 2012. The number represents 1.2 percent of all crashes that have had a fatal outcome during the year. This percentage is slightly lower than the one for 2010 when bus collision fatalities formed 1.3 percent of all deaths on the road.
The Newest and Most Prominent Accidents
As you can see from the statistics, people died in bus collisions in Delaware both during 2016 and 2015. Luckily, there haven’t been fatal outcomes in 2017 yet.
One of the most prominent Delaware accidents occurred in 2014. The crash initially caused the death of two people (a third individual died later on) and the injury of all passengers on board. The New York-based tour bus had an accident in Delaware, close to Red Lion’s 1 exit ramp.
Eventually, the driver was charged with two counts of operation of a vehicle causing death. According to the investigation, the driver lost control of the vehicle because he entered a curve at a very high speed.
The driver pleaded guilty during the court proceedings. Using an interpreter, the driver admitted he was driving too fast and without consideration for either the weather and the traffic conditions. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 7.5 years and a fine of 3,540 dollars.