Why do they not have seatbelts on public school buses?

Question

I have to wear mine now, or i get fined. Also, how come car insurance rates are not going down because of this new law?

Answer 1

It is really silly they don't but it is to do with money someone does not want to pay!

Answer 2

The shape of the bus/most common types of bus related accidents don't make seat belts beneficial. What state do you live in where it is a NEW law that you have to wear seat belts?

Answer 3

this is a great question. I have never seen this addressed on answeres.

Answer 4

Who knows. E-mail George W. Bush and ask him.

Answer 5

bus is huge...and its very safe actually...

there are little chances of a bus flipping over...its like a semi...it will beat anything smaller...

Answer 6

it costs a lot of money to put belts in a bus.

Answer 7

The answer is very simple, they are not required by law yet. I drive a school bus in Ma. and I think it is a good idea to have them in all school buses, but there is a down side if they make it a law, I carry up to 60 children at once, how are you going to enforce it? The driver has enough to do just driving the bus.

Answer 8

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.

Seat belts on school buses may also hamper rescue or evacuation efforts, as adults or older students may have to spend precious minutes unbuckling young or disoriented passengers.

Unruly students could also use the heavy buckles as makeshift weapons, creating even more of a safety hazard.

There is also the argument that seat belts would only protect passengers of school buses during unusual events such as roll-overs or flips, not other possible accidents such as fires or submersion.

Considering the expense of retrofitting current school buses or replacing entire fleets with approved seat belt systems, the benefits of seat belt use do not currently outweigh the liabilities.