Why don't the buses have seat-belt?

Question

People are caught and fined for the purpose of not fastening seat belt, but isn't it a paradox that the city buses are without seat-belts.

Answer 1

they don't need them for the city is insured

Answer 2

I think it's even more bizarre that school buses aren't required to have seat belts.

Answer 3

I run a bus company, so I can explain this quite easily.

Buses are the SAFEST means of transportation based on passenger miles, PERIOD. It's even safer than air travel as there's bazillion more buses than airplanes.

Tour coaches are higher off the ground, so any impact will NOT likely affect the passenger cabin. Just look at a Greyhound or similar motorcoach and see how high they are off the ground. Even an Escalade can't hit the passenger cabin.

And judging by the vector of impact, any sort of lap belt would actually CAUSE more injuries, such as whiplash, than saved. Esp. in worst case: head-on collision.  

Adding shoulder belts is possible, but would require even further stiffening of the seat designs, and make the seats non-adjustable (right now, they usually recline a little, as least on coaches). That would require a total redesign of the motorcoaches, with millions already on the road, for no appreciable gain.

Thus, the only reason for having the seatbelt is to prevent ejection in case of rollover, and you can do that by simply strengthening the windows, and the window latches. Or by preventing rollovers with ABS brakes and/or stability control.

As for transit buses, as you are LEGALLY ALLOWED TO STAND in a transit bus, there's no reason to require seat belts for seating passengers. However, some seatbelts are available for wheelchair anchor points and wheelchair passengers, who may have trouble staying in their seats.

As for school buses, same arguments apply. They are tall enough to tower over most cars, so any impact would be below the cabin. The impact vector shows that in case of collision, seatbelts do more harm than good, as children tend to slide UNDER the belt, even the 3-point should/lap belts, causing internal injuries. Lap belts are worse, causing whiplash and head injuries (whereas without seatbelt, your entire body hits, distributing the impact).

Also keep this in mind... the average fatality per year of a student dying from a school bus accident is about 10 or so. Yes, entire year, entire US of A. At the cost of $2000 or so to outfit a bus with seatbelts, outfitting the entire school bus fleet in the US would cost close to a BILLION dollars. That billion would be better spent on public education or other things. After all, more students die just before getting on a bus or just after getting off a bus, ran over by drivers who won't stop even when that red sign flips out.

Answer 4

The price for the seatbelts would make it cost alot and eevery time someone trys to break them the cost of replacement and those buses would be out of commision for repairs.

Answer 5

In so many ways yes I agree. But you have to also think many parents don't believe in seat belts. I do because if my cousin would have had a seatbelt on she would have not been killed at 11 years old. Let me tell you that is hard to deal with for a family. I wish they would put them on buses. Though make it to where it is your choice to wear it or not. Ofcourse with parental permission (they are made at first until parent says no). I do agree strongly there are too many quote accidents on buses. With my bus driver he just slams on the brakes when he sees a kid standing in the aisle before the bus is stopped. Which it shouldn't be that way. Cause I get my face slammed into the seat in front of me. I am the one doing what I am supposed to be doing and I get hurt in the process of kids not listening to the bus driver. Bull c**p is what that is called!!!!

Answer 6

One reason seat belts are not required on school buses is that the greater weight and mass of a school bus means that passengers are less vulnerable in a school bus than in an automobile, and they sit above the usual point of impact.

Another is the school bus passengers are not seated near doors or large window openings, so they are not likely to be thrown from the vehicle. Protection from ejection is a primary function of automobile seat belts.

But the main reason is that school buses incorporate a passive restraint system called compartmentalization, which is designed to protect children without seat belts.

Answer 7

Well maybe because you would all die if a bus crash anyway so why bother with a seatbelt?

Answer 8

because buses are rather large, painted bright colors with lots of flashing lights and many strictly enforced laws pretaining to them. If only other drivers had the extra training that large vehicle drivers go through there would be millions less accidents. be careful what you wish for

Answer 9

Maybe buses drive smoother.

Answer 10

One reason seat belts are not required on buses is that the greater weight and mass of a bus means that passengers are less vulnerable in a bus than in a car,and they sit above the usual point of impact.Another is bus passengers are not seated near doors or large window openings,so they are not likely to be thrown from the vehicle.I hope I answer your question.Have a nice day!

Answer 11

Some day this will change.

The US has government agencies that do all kinds of safety testing, and keeping statistics on crashes.

In crash testing with school buses using dummies to find out what would happen to kids wearing different kinds of restraints, or none at all, in collisions with bus hit from various directions, they found the most dangerous are the lap belts.  In that case the body jack knifes forwards, being held at the waist, with the head hitting the back of the next row's head rest.  Because the torso extends further forwards than the space betwen the chairs, the head snaps back and the body goes down ... in other words the wearing of a lap seat belt can be fatal for children in a school bus accident.

The safest is the 4 point shoulder harness.

There are issues with enforcing the kids wearing the safety harnesses.

Buses are typically used by the lowest economic classes of people. Imposition of seat belts would raise the cost of a bus fare.  Do bus riders want this?

Do the accident rates of buses justify the cost of this increase in safety?