Most states do not set limits for determining whether a school bus is too old to be on the road, according to a new federal report.
Less than one-quarter of states set specific requirements for the maximum school bus age, a Government Accounting Office report released Friday found. They also don’t set requirements on seating capacity.
Between 2011 and 2014, there was an annual average of 115 fatal school bus crashes nationwide, the report found. The average age of a school bus in a crash is eight years old.
GAO officials sent surveys to all state education departments to get more information about school bus crashes. Georgia was one of three states that did not respond. Georgia education department officials said there were staffing changes last summer in its transportation department and its current director did not recall receiving the survey, a spokesman said Friday.
There are an average of two school bus accidents a day in metro Atlanta, according to the Georgia Department of Education. A recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found those numbers are incomplete because some school districts do not report all of their crash data.
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