The U.S. Department of Transportation recently proposed new rules that would require that all seats on school buses be four inches higher and that all small school buses (10,000 pounds GVWR or less) have 3-point safety belts.  They are also proposing to establish standards for 2 or 3-point safety belts on larger school buses. 

For years, I have wondered why school buses do not have safety belts.  When I asked the President of a major company that builds school buses, his reply was that without requirements for such if he installed safety belts his company would not be able to compete economically with those manufacturers that did not install safety belts.  He also pointed out that a seat belt alone (without shoulder harness) might increase injuries in the event of a crash because the seat backs are hard and the head of a child restrained at the waist would probably hit the hard seat back in the next seat.  Other arguments I have heard against safety belts in school buses are that the buckles could become weapons and the capacity of the buses might be less requiring schools to purchase more buses.  Other concerns include who would monitor compliance of usage and proper tension, if a school l required passengers to buckle up.  Would bus drivers have to get out of their seats and buckle children in?  If they unbuckled, would the bus driver have to pull over and enforce the rule?  Would buses need adult riders to ensure proper use?  There is also an argument that few students incur injuries while riding in school buses.

On the other hand, I have thought that from a role modeling perspective, no seat belts sends a message that seat belt usage is not important.  Furthermore, children who are strapped in would be less likely to engage in rowdy behavior that might distract a driver and cause a crash or cause injury to other passengers. 

I would be interested in hearing any experiences you have with school buses where safety belt usage was a factor.  I’d also be interested in whether you would support their installation in school buses and why or why not.

Susan Wooley

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 9:52 am and is filed under Administration & Policy, Physical Environment, Teaching About Health & Safety, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.