Mississippi Fatal Bus Accident Statistics
In 2015, there were 72 deaths reported in 64 crashes which involved large trucks and buses. This number is a significant decrease from the 81 fatalities reported in 2014, which occurred in 66 accidents. The incidents involved 71 large vehicles. This information is according to a report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
There were 14 crashes involving a single vehicle while the other 50 were multiple-vehicle accidents. According to nationwide statistics, most crashes involve two vehicles when a large truck or bus is involved.
A bus is defined as any commercial vehicle that is used to carry more than eight passengers with a driver. Statistics include school buses, intercity, and transit buses and van-buses in the category.
More buses are registered in recent years than in earlier decades while fatality rates continue to decline. More than 460,000 buses were registered in 1975, but this number has climbed to almost double with just over 870,000 in 2014. Fatality rates per million miles driven dropped during that same period from 5.75 to 1.77.
The fatality rate per million people for Mississippi is almost double the national average of 11.19. The state’s rate in 2015 was 21.39, which was a significant increase from the 17.52 reported in 2010. The number of accidents has gone up while the overall population has dropped slightly.
Around half of the counties reported a fatality in 2015 with those having between one and five for the year. The fatal accidents were dispersed throughout the state with no one area more concentrated than others. In the north, DeSoto County reported five fatalities for the year while Tate County had one. In the southern part of the state, Jackson County reported four for 2015 while Pearl River had two. Harrison County reported just one death for the year.