Does a school bus driver have to wear a seat belt?

Question

If so why dont they have seat belts for the kids that ride in the school bus?

Answer 1

Absolutely, he or she is the driver.  Ever driven a vehicle where you are (in the case of snub-nose) sitting in front of the front wheels?  Hit a dip in the road and you will be thankful for the seat belts.  The driver must maintain control at all times.  

Bus seats are designed to provide "compartments" for the student passengers.  They are safer in the bus seats as long as they are setting down on their butts, not on their legs or hanging over the seat in front.  

Seat belts would provide a weapon to swing and hit with, and the students could connect them across the aisles.  This would impede movement in and out of the bus.

Answer 2

Some states like New York, as well as several others, already do have seat belts on all of their buses. However, since 1977, an idea called compartmentalization has been used. It is designed to keep the students safe in the event of an accident. Keep in mind, buses have rolled over and have been involoved in accidents where many times the kids walk away with only minor injuries, while the driver of the other vehicle is severley injured or killed, even with their seatbelt on. As such, seat belts are not usually used...although there has been some debate, wearing lap belts can cause injuries in an accident if someones head hits the seat in front. If you were to use 3 point seatbelts, like those in cars, you would reduce the number of students you can seat on the bus...so you would need a second bus to cover a route that usually only needed one. So now who is going to pay for the second bus and the driver? It also makes loading and unloading take longer. Also, the buses would have to be retorfited to use seatbelts, which can be extremley expensive, due to the fact that the seats may not have been designed for their use. Who is now going to pay for this, or pay for the extra cost to replace the old buses with new ones? The fact that young children may not be able to undo their seatbelt in the event of a fire is also another reason they are reluctent to use them. And how do you know if every single kid has thier seatbelt on? If a kid takes off their seatbelt and gets hurt, who gets in trouble for it? Who is responsible for making sure all the kids have a seat belt on? Keep in mind that school buses are the safest form of transportation...safer than even taking an airplane. Your children are safer taking the school bus without a seatbelt then they are in the back of your car with a seatbelt...that's statistically proven.

Answer 3

bus drivers have to wear a seat belt.

i guess the whole theory with kids not having to wear seat belts is that the padded seat in front of them is supposed to protect them.

that's why the driver has to wear one, because there is no barrier between him and the glass.

personally, i think that children should have to wear seat belts on busses, because they can still get thrown out the windshield and such in a collision.

and also if the bus were to roll, they would be seriously injured.

our children deserve to be safe on school busses