Statistics say bus travel not a big risk

Are you gambling with your life when you ride a charter bus to a casino?

No, according to the National Safety Council.

Statistics show bus travel is a pretty safe bet.

About 340 million bus passengers travel 25 billion miles each year, and fatalities have averaged between four a 10 and year for the past 10 years.

The council's 1996 edition of "Accident Facts" recorded only four bus passenger fatalities compared with more than 21,800 deaths in passenger automobiles, five on railroad passenger trains and 159 on scheduled airlines.

Though they are a longshot, accidents of buses chartered to take gamblers to and from casinos do happen.

Four gambling charter buses bound for casinos in Atlantic City crashed in New Jersey in late December and early January. The most serious Atlantic City crash occurred on Christmas Eve, killing eight people and injuring 15.

Other gambling charter bus accidents in recent years include:

* A November 1998 crash on Interstate 80 near Truckee that injured 16 people. The bus, which ran into a boulder, was returning gamblers to Sacramento and San Francisco.

* A September 1998 crash on Interstate 80 near Truckee that left two dead and 31 injured. The bus was on its way to Reno from the San Francisco Bay Area.

* A November 1997 accident in the San Francisco Bay Area that injured 16. The bus was returning from Reno.

* A September 1996 accident near Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., in San Bernardino County that injured 35 people. The bus was returning from Las Vegas.

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