Illegal Bus Passing Data Reported
On a single day last April, a total of 5,615 Texas school bus drivers reported that their buses were illegally passed by other vehicles a total of 8,726 times.
That’s an average of 1.55 illegal Texas school bus passings reported per driver — and an increase from the average of 0.95 illegal bus passings reported per driver in Texas by the 10,100 participating school bus drivers on a single day in April 2019.
- Note: No surveys were conducted for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years due to COVID’s impact on pupil transportation systems. In Texas (and nationally) there were far fewer bus drivers participating in the latest (2021-22) surveys than during the annual surveys conducted prior to COVID.
The survey results are released to coincide with the start of each school year to draw attention to the problem of drivers illegally passing school buses.
The Texas Department of Public Safety coordinates the data collection for the Texas portion of the survey.
The latest national survey included 33 states and the District of Columbia that volunteered to participate, with each state (or in some cases, individual districts) choosing their own days to conduct the survey. Texas chose Wednesday, April 27, 2022.
Nationally, 79,859 participating school bus drivers reported that 51,593 vehicles illegally passed their buses — 1.55 illegal bus passings reported per driver — which equaled the Texas average.
The start of the school year was marked with several school bus related accidents in Texas, and many districts are continuing to report that they have not recovered from COVID-era bus driver shortages.
The graphics below summarize the results of the Texas portion of the survey.
