Should School Buses Have Seat Belts?

Question

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Answer 1

Yes

Answer 2

PROS: In a select few types of accidents the seat belts might prevent injuries. I stress MIGHT.

CONS: Not a short answer at all. If you really want to know more, read on...

I have 5 kids in school and, of course, I care about their safety on buses, so this is a topic and question that I have researched thoroughly over the past 10 months. The following is what I have found.

Everyone tends to say the cost is the a main reason buses don't have belts. And while I agree funding could certainly be a factor, consider the following. Neither lap nor lap-and-shoulder belts on a bus provide the same type of protection offered in a car. During a head-on collision, the most common type for buses, lap belts alone can increase the risk of injury. On impact, this type of restraint allows a passenger's head to jerk forward, risking severe head and neck injury. Lap AND shoulder belts would require the installation of stiffer seats. These seats could become a source of impact injury. Studies also showed that children can slip downwards when restrained by lap and shoulder belts, risking injury to vulnerable internal organs.

In 1999, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) examined the effect of seat belt installation in buses. They came to the conclusion that seat belts actually would result in head injuries and fatalities. In fact, the NTSB found a relationship between most injuries/deaths and the seating position of the passenger. In these cases, the presence of seat belts would change nothing.

While there is no evidence proving that seat belts on buses save lives, there is reason to worry they MAY CAUSE HARM. During an emergency, seat belts could hinder young children from quickly exiting the bus; they simply could not free themselves. Drivers would be hard pressed to monitor belt usage for every student. And the heavy buckles could be used as weapons.

Studies by federal agencies, including the NTSB, have shown heavy bus construction and compartmentalization provides greater safety than seat belts ever could. Comparing the design of a school bus to a car is like comparing apples to oranges. Where belts protect passengers during car collisions, their presence may cause severe injuries on a bus. Seatbelts are only required on small buses weighing less than 10,000 pounds because their design more closely resembles a car. It is ironic, but the reality is that seat belts have no place on most school buses.

I know that isn't always the popular position, but it's what most of the facts support.

I hope that helps.

Answer 3

Depends.

Most buses are set up with tall backs to absorb the blow.

The theory in not having them is two fold.

1) some childer may have trouble taking them off in the case of an emergency

2) Kids will most likely use them as weapons and hit each other with them

Answer 4

yes it will help to save lifes

Answer 5

yes they should

Answer 6

Most accidents involving school buses were either frontal or rear collisions, which means that passengers were protected by a safety feature called compartmentalization.

Compartmentalization, a concept seen frequently on commercial airplanes, involves seating passengers in rows of padded seats with cushioned backs.

The belief is that during frontal or rear impact, the most common types of wrecks involving school buses, passengers would either be pushed back into their seats or thrown forward into the padded backs of the row ahead. The use of seat belts might require stiffer seats, which would negate the theory of compartmentalization.

It is also feared that some students would receive internal injuries from seat belts through a process called submarining, the tendency for a body to slide downwards during impact.

Answer 7

There have been several good answers to this, all stating that buses are safer without seat belts (unless you go for full lap belt/shoulder harness...and the problems with that situation were addressed as well).  I drove a bus for 21 years, and towards the end of that time at the annual safety meeting they always commented that seat belts are coming, it's just a question of when....and presented that the uninformed public is going to ram them through.  I am glad I got out before that came to pass.  I can just imagine the logistical nightmare trying to keep kids buckled in.  And if they choose not to, who's responsible?  The driver?  OK....how are they supposed to drive the bus safely, watch traffic, watch kids approaching stops, watch any other impending possible hazards....and figure out if Johnny has taken his seat belt off, which you can't see because of the high seat backs.  Not to mention, as has been noted....two little darlings decide to get in a fight.  A seat belt would be just great to beat another kid with, or wrap around their neck and pulllllll....  There are so many limits on what kids can't currently take on a bus because it could potentially be used as a weapon, and now we're gonna arm them.  Makes so much sense.  Other than a roll over, or a severe crash involving the actual body of the bus being penetrated (and in that case, seat belts may or may not do much good....belting in those kids that got hit by the train up by Chicago wouldn't have done a tinker's darn big of good for them) there's not much reason to have belts.

Answer 8

As a matter of fact, it is safer to NOT wear a seat belt on most modern school busses.  if the shild is held down at the hips, they can smoke their head on the seat in front and be killed from their neck braking.  it is better to actually fly forward and bounce back into the seat off the padded seat back!

also, it would be a pain to get all the kids belted in, and then unbelted, especially if there were ever a fire.

but it is still best to wear a seat belt in the car!

Answer 9

School buses are designed to work with 'compartmentilization seating'

With the high seat back design, if the bus is hit the child's full body will slide forward into the padded seat and back.  It a child wears the current lap belt that buses come with, the hips are held and upper body goes forward and child will break their necks.  So this is currently why buses come with lap seat belts but boards of educations and state governments are leary of making mandatory.  Most bus accidents are from a bus being hit in the rear and current lap belts will do more harm than good.

Now....if buses were equipped with full lap/shoulder harness that you have in your cars, it would then be a good safety measure.  However, to do this, only two children to a seat. So now you are  into a budget expense that states will not reimburse schools for.  Currently, if a bus carries 66 children and seating with lap/shoulder straps are put in, 22 students lose a seat and for every three buses with should/lap belts will require the purchase of a bus.

Comes down to money to purchase new vehicles.  Most Department of Transportations do not let buses be retrofitted for seat change as this is not factory built and no guarantee.  Plus retrofitting costs big bucks to get approved.

Write to you congressmen/assemblypersons to put money into school buses to be built with shoulder/lap and money to reimburse the cost of this.