Indiana Fatal Bus Accident Statistics
Indiana reported a total of 117 fatalities in accidents involving large trucks and buses for 2015. This information comes from a report by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). These deaths came from 105 crashes, which is down slightly from 112 in 2014. A total of 133 large vehicles were involved in the accidents. Sixteen of the crashes were single-vehicle accidents while the other 89 involved multiple vehicles. According to statistics, most bus crashes involve two vehicles.
A bus is defined in this report as a vehicle that carries nine or more passengers, counting the driver. It may include school buses, intercity buses, and transit buses, as well as a new category of van-buses. Statistics show that almost all accidents occur in non-work zones while the majority happen in daytime on weekdays. The weather is most often clear with dry pavement. Sixty percent of these accidents occur on rural roads, and the majority of the large vehicles are traveling between 50 and 55 mph.
Indiana reported a rate of 15.86 fatalities per million people, which is significantly higher than the national average of 11.19. It is just slightly higher than the rate reported in 2010, which was 15.58.
Overall, bus fatalities have decreased even as the number of buses registered has increased. In fact, it had almost doubled from 1975 when just over 462,000 buses were registered to more than 872,000 in 2014. At the same time, the rate of fatalities per million miles driven went from 5.75 down to 1.77.
Most counties in Indiana report five or fewer fatalities in 2015 with the exception of a few counties in the northern portion of the state. For example, Lake County had six fatalities for 2015, which was down from the 11 in 2014. Elkhart County reported eight, which was more than double the three for the prior year.