Why don't school buses have seatbelts?

Question

With all the car seat laws, you would think school buses would impose laws regarding seatbelts on buses. But they don't. Why is that?

Answer 1

Because the drivers don't want to have the responsibility of making sure everyone is belted in. The drivers have unions and unions can make or break a company.

Answer 2

Reality check:  Who's going to make sure the kids stay buckled up?

Answer 3

It's expensive and frankly a school bus could take out a lot of cars. The same reason they don't have seat belts on regular buses... it's just convenient and usually seat belt laws only apply to sedans and not trucks or buses for whatever reason.

Also, some school buses do have seatbelts, but no one uses them. It may also be because they tried it and it was unpopular.

Answer 4

I've often wondered that myself. Especially since most accidents involving school buses are the bus drivers fault.

Answer 5

Not sure but Texas is getting some in there buses.

God bless

Answer 6

school bus accedents are as low as plane accidents almost, and also when bus's hit something they can berely feel it due to its size compared to a car its hitting, when people usally get into accidents also, is usally teenager (which they dont drive buses),  drunk, or tired, or just want to be an a*****e on the road( with fast car, or just teenager) so with all those things you can see why

Answer 7

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.

Answer 8

wow - cannot agree at all with most of the answers I have seen here.  The main reason is $$$$, plain and simple. School buses would have to be designed with supports for the seat belt, plus the cost of the belts etc. It makes no sense not to have kids belted in, becuase the forces involved in a crash can be horrific, and the fact that the seat in front of you is padded means nothing - there is steel under that pad and you could be horribly injured in an accident.

If it was up to me, the bus would have sensors that would notify the driver if a seatbelt was undone and there was a body in the chair....

AZ traffic school and driver's ed instructor for 5+ years

Answer 9

we had them in our school buses, but nobody ever made us wear them..  it is pretty rediculous

Answer 10

Never been sure about that,but have wondered if they worry about lawsuits due to restraint issues.Or being able to evacuate a bus,possibly.