From the Database library:

The Database Library has bus accident data (including information covering accidents specific to your location) available in two databases for members of IRE:

The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS):
The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database includes details on automobile accidents on public U.S. roads that resulted in death. Bus and truck accidents are also included. Journalists can use this database to identify trends in location, drivers, vehicles, roadways and other elements in fatal traffic accidents. This detailed database can allow journalists to profile accidents and find additional details.

The Truck Accidents database:
The Truck Accidents database consists of accidents that involve commercial vehicles that weigh more than 10,000 pounds, as reported by state transportation agencies. Each state submits a report to the U.S. DOT that consists of all accident reports the state has gathered from local and state law enforcement agencies. The vehicles included in this database are buses, semis, moving trucks, rental trucks. The data of 1988 through 1999 also has details of hazardous-material carriers. The agency redacted hazardous-material information in the 2000-2006 data, citing security reasons, but a hazardous material database that has related information is available at NICAR.


To order the data, call the Database Library at 573-884-7711 or download an order form.

From the Resource Center:


Stories
To order stories from the IRE Resource Center, send e-mail to rescntr@ire.org or call us at 573-882-3364.

Story #12833
This investigation by WKRN-TV (Nashville, TN) revealed a major breakdown in the safety of Metro-Nashville school buses. Tennessee is below minimum federal standards that require every school bus to be inspected at least twice a year. It is also one of the few states that allows overcrowded buses with students standing while buses are in motion.
From 2002

Story #17571
A WBRZ-TV (Baton Rouge, LA) investigation into school bus safety reveals that bus drivers in the Baton Rouge area routinely fail to do required inspections of their buses before and after their routes.

Story #22399
WISH-TV's investigation into the safety of school buses in Central Indiana, the transport of choice for 70 percent of school children in Indiana.

Search for more stories in IRE's Resource Center.

Tipsheets
To order tipsheets from the IRE Resource Center, send e-mail to rescntr@ire.org or call us at 573-882-3364.

Tipsheet #1290
Dawn Fallik lists web sites for researching transportation including crash and accident data, trucking, hazardous materials, airlines, railroads, school bus safety and FAA.

Tipsheet #1549
Stuart Watson provides links that can help in reporting on accidents, wrecks, crashes, fires, spills and school/workplace violence.

Tipsheet #1821
David Milliron offers this tipsheet as a primer on the transportation beat. Milliron gives some general tips and then delves into specific web links and other info on planes, trains and automobiles.

Tipsheet #1932
Scott Finn's tipsheet guides reporters through the task of creating their own database for CAR stories, from filing FOIA requests to writing the story. Finn also included a copy of a September/October 2002 Uplink article he wrote with Eric Eyre about a story that was published in the Gazette analyzing long school bus rides for students in West Virginia.

Search for more tipsheets in IRE's Resource Center.


IRE Publications
The Investigative Reporter's Handbook: A Guide to Documents, Databases and Techniques (4th Ed.): Includes information on covering school bus accidents and safety along with other transportation related stories.


The IRE Journal and Uplink
The IRE Journal:
Privacy Rights: Restricted personnel records make checking school bus driver criminal convictions tougher (By Brad Branan; September/ October 2006)

Uplink:
Andy Lehren explains how to use computerized records to show if a federal agency is not enforcing school bus safety laws. (January/February 1999)

IRE members can search the indexes of The IRE Journal and Uplink. Back issues of The IRE Journal and Uplink may be purchased for $10 each. There is an additional $10 user fee for nonmembers. Check with the Resource Center at 573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org for availability.

Other Resources

• Study of School Bus-related injuries in November issue of Pediatrics: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/short/118/5/1978
• American Academy of Pediatrics: http://www.aap.org/
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.gov/
• Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science and Engineering: http://www.trb.org/
• Following the recent school bus fatalities in Alabama, Phil Williams and the investigative team at WTVF-Nashville updated "Precious Cargo," their extensive investigation into bus safety and the issue of seat belts on buses. Their findings remain timely a year after the first stories aired. The online package includes recent updates, extensive background documents and a 30-minute documentary. The package can be found here:
  http://newschannel5.com/Global/category.asp?C=85977&nav=menu374_2_2
  You can also find a link to the story on IRE's Extra! Extra! page, featuring some of the latest investigations going on around the globe: http://www.ire.org/extraextra/