We require children to wear seat belts in cars; why not school buses? It seems like a good idea, but research indicates that it wouldn’t make much difference (except perhaps to keep kids in their seats):
[TSBA TLN Notes –] Organizations such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) have concluded that seat belts would not have prevented most of the serious injuries and fatalities from occurring in school bus crashes. In 1989, the NAS completed a study of ways to improve school bus safety and concluded that the overall potential benefits of requiring seat belts on school buses were insufficient to justify a mandate for installation.
On Wednesday, the State Senate Education Committee unexpectedly approved legislation to require seat belts on buses purchased after July 1, 2007. The cost is estimated at $14 million in recurring dollars in State cost, accompanied by $27.6 million in one-time and $13.8 million in recurring costs to local governments.
That’s a lot of money for something that is not expected to make a significant difference.
The measure next goes to the Senate Finance Committee, of which our own Sen. Randy McNally is the Chair. It might be worth dropping a note in opposition to this bill, which exemplifies part of the funding difficulty faced by local school systems — unfunded mandates.
Interesting development in Nashville… Cynically speaking, I expect that this will turn out to be one of those bills that passes in committee and might even pass one house of the General Assembly (allowing legislators to tell their vocal constituents that they did their best), but quietly dies later on (allowing those same legislators to assure other constituents that it didn’t pass).
As with most public issues, this one has many sides. There are interest groups that say that seat belts on school buses might not save lives, but they do prevent serious injuries. They may have a valid point. The National Coalition for School Bus Safety employs a lobbyist who was paralyzed in school bus accident during her senior year of high school. She apparently has been an effective voice on the need for seat belts — understandably so, if her injuries could have been prevented by seatbelts.
I expect that this is something that is coming sooner or later in our safety-conscious society. I’ve known parents who refused to let their kids ride Oak Ridge school buses because they lack seat belts. And I knew one family (dad, mom, and a couple of kids) who had moved here from New York state (one of the three 3 U.S. states that requires seat belts on new school buses) and ended up moving back to New York after just a couple of years, partly because mom was upset that the school buses here do not have seat belts.
New York’s tax rate would provide a funding mechanism for seat belts on buses, but Tennessee’s does not.
Given our limited resources, any more unfunded mandates take away from our already meager means for schools’ actual mission: educating students.
Each day, about 440,000 public school buses transport 23.5 million children to and from school and school-related activities. These buses travel 4.3 billion miles each year. (Yes that’s billion)
The debate over whether school buses should be equipped with seat belts goes back to at least 1977, when NHTSA tightened school bus safety standards. At that time, following extensive research and analysis, NHTSA instituted “compartmentalization” as the primary means of occupant protection in large school buses: strong, well-padded, well-anchored, high-backed, evenly spaced seats. Think of it like a carton of eggs… each egg is in its own compartment.
The record is impressive: American students are nearly eight times safer riding in a school bus than with their own parents and guardians in cars. The fatality rate for school buses is only 0.2 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) compared to 1.5 fatalities per 100 million VMT for cars.This impressive safety record is a result of the Department of Transportation’s requirements for compartmentalization on school buses. Moreover, the protective abilities of today’s school buses have been reaffirmed by two years of research.Yet, no matter how safe our children are on school buses, it is vitally important to constantly reassess existing safety measures.
Therefore, Congress requested that DOT investigate the safety value of installing safety belts on our nation’s school buses. An analysis of test data by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has concluded that lap belts appear to have little, if any, benefit in reducing serious-to-fatal injuries in severe frontal crashes. On the contrary, lap belts could increase the incidence of serious neck injuries and possibly abdominal injury among young passengers in severe frontal crashes. Any increased risks associated with the use of lap belts in small school buses are more than offset by preventing ejections. The use of the combination lap/shoulder belts could provide some benefit, unless misused. Lap/shoulder belts can be misused and NHTSA’s testing showed that serious neck injury and perhaps abdominal injury could result when lap/shoulder belts are misused.Other considerations, such as increased capital costs, reduced seating capacities, and other unintended consequences (like vandalism) associated with lap/shoulder belts could result in more children seeking alternative means of traveling to and from school. Given that school buses are the safest way to and from school, even the smallest reduction in the number of bus riders could result in more children being killed or injured when using alternative forms of transportation.
Currently their are 5 states that require seat belts to be installed on school buses, but not a single state requires the passengers to wear them.
You also have to think of the possibility of bus fires and buses that end up in water of some kind. In a fire a driver would not have time to unbuckle the small children, and what about the times when the driver is incapacitated from injury or unconcious? Also, if a bus is upside down there is too much pressure on the buckle to undo it. Installing 3 point belts would require 1/3 more buses, because you would not be able to put 3 to a seat.
We would like to think that “all” bus drivers are Mr or Mrs or Miss perfect…but that would be a dream… some of the drivers have pretty shady pasts…would you like the male driver on your childs bus reaching down to the crotch area of “your daughter” to make sure the belt is fastened???
Over the past 11 years, school buses have annually averaged about 26,000 crashes resulting in 10 deaths (that is 10 per year) – 25 percent were drivers; 75 percent were passengers. A pretty fantastic record if you ask me. We will continue to seek to make the buses safer, but for now it looks like “compartmentalization” is the answer. I also am a school bus driver and will NOT have seat belts on my bus, unless it becomes law!!!
I know back when I rode the bus i always thought they should have seat belts; how is it they wouldn’t be any use in a school bus but are in a semi truck for the driver?
I had always wondered what would happen if the bus got hit; would we go flying across the school bus, slamming into other people?
After watching the videos they have from the bus impacts they’ve shown since I’d say i was quite right. And even if it might not “save my life” it would at least keep me from bending backwards over the seats across the isle or slamming my head into another persons teeth or through a window. (Studies be damned– I’d rather be safe and protect myself then suffer or die without the option.)