Safety Analysis of Transit Bus Collisions and Operator Hours

This report is a pilot study conducted by MITRE in collaboration with five transit agencies to analyze the correlation between bus collisions and operator hours of service. The study aims to identify conditions that may contribute to bus collisions, particularly focusing on operator fatigue. The analysis covers 90 million operator work hours and 1,496 collisions reported to the National Transit Database from 2018 to 2023 across agencies in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and San Diego. The findings indicate that collision rates are higher during shifts following three days without work and tend to increase with longer shifts. Recommendations include pursuing further shared safety data and establishing safety data standards to enhance analysis across agencies. The report outlines the importance of collaborative safety analytics in addressing transit safety challenges and highlights the need for additional research to inform safety actions related to operator work hours.