Why Don't School Buses Have Seat Belts?

msn.com:

Ashley Brown, 16, and Alicia Bonura, 18, both of Beaumont, Texas, died March 29, 2006. They were on a bus carrying their West Brook High School soccer team when it overturned near Devers, Texas, on its way to a playoff game in Humble.

Read the whole story: msn.com

Comments

[gregory57]

07:46 PM on 01/04/2011

I understand that seat belts especially traditional lap belts (do you really think they can put shoulder harnesses in school busses) tend to cut children in half in a serious accident. Not the best presentation if you are hoping to minimize any liability litigation.

[ssfahrer]

12:21 AM on 01/04/2011

Why aren't we asking these questions:
1) Why don't all buses have them? (A: Because people can't get into them... I have trouble using the seat belts in a CAR properly, so I don't bother 'strpping in'....)
2) Why were they mandated by government if they're unuseable???? (A: So the government would have an excuse to tax and tax, spend and spend-- the Liberal agenda at work....)

[davidwees]

05:41 PM on 01/01/2011

I really think that the people commenting in this thread need to actually READ the article before commenting. The article author plainly says that the statistics on the safety of buses bear out that seat belts are not necessary.

[VOTER]

09:06 AM on 01/02/2011

.........on NEW school buses.
How many OLD school buses are transporting children?

[Goldie Goldwire]

05:13 PM on 01/01/2011

School buses in NJ have lap seat belts but not over the shoulder straps. I know because I use to go on field trips with a K-2 special ed class and we made sure each kid was buckled before the bus even pulled off.

It could be that each state has its own rules on whether they are required or not.

[RedRat]

04:39 PM on 01/01/2011

I have always wondered by school buses don't have seat belts, at least lap belts. I think they ought to have them. The number of injuries sustained by our kids in minor traffic accidents is unconscionable. The cost of buying and installing them should be small in comparison to the cost of law suits and injury claims against the offending districts.

[SeeDaddy]

04:18 PM on 01/01/2011

Since the many fatalities occur when students are eject out the windows in a roll over accident, someway to "compartmentalize" from window ejection might be better option than seat belts. An airbag approach over the windows might do the trick.

[RedRat]

04:41 PM on 01/01/2011

This would be true in a roll over type accident, but I think most injuries come from being thrown forward or to the side, usually from the bus hitting a car or a car hitting the bus in the side.

[MG Metiva]

03:38 PM on 01/01/2011

Lack of money in the budget.

[Tom95134]

02:13 PM on 01/01/2011

And just who is going to make sure that every kid on the bus has his or her seat-belt fastened? Oh, you say put the same detection system in buses that are used in cars? Well, that requires a padded seat and springs so it can detect when someone is in the seat. ALL OF THIS COSTS EXTRA MONEY and those same people that are screaming about no seat-belt in school buses are the ones refusing to pass tax assessments to provide the schools more operating funds.

Typical Americans. I want, I want, I want... but will I pay? NO! NO! NO!!

[RedRat]

04:45 PM on 01/01/2011

Sad but true. This is why so many states are financial trouble now, everyone wants their little special program but are unwilling to pay the taxes for them (think California and even my state). However, here is what the school districts would do, they would put it up for a vote, say it got passed, then next year the same amount is budgeted into the school district's budget, even though the belts or other devices were already installed. It just keeps going on and on.

I see installing the devices, whatever would work best, as a one time thing. There might be yearly maintenance but certainly not costing all that much. I have yet to have my set belt system serviced even though I used it every day for over 15 years in my van.

[LisaCACO]

01:56 PM on 01/01/2011

we wondered this when I took a school bus to school for 6 years in elementary school in the 70s. no one wanted to spend the money then on kids of color and no one certainly wants to do it now. we talk a good game but truly kids are not valued in this society. the theory goes "if you care about your kids you'll be rich enough to drive them to school." no wonder the rest of the world thinks we're insane.

[owiseone]

10:26 AM on 01/01/2011

The powers-that-be will not allocate the money to make school buses safer. Seat belts would cost money. As it is, the most frequent injury is the child being thrown against the metal seat frame of the seat in front of them. This occurs during a quick or unexpected stop, a lurch or rough road. Of course seat belts would help with this. But the seats themselves are bolted to very little substantial underpinnings--another problem with safety.

Then there are the buses driving at high speeds on the interstates. It is a myth that school buses typically drive on country roads and city streets. School buses are built like tin cans on frames. There is little protection in the event of a crash or turnover.

As a nation, we profess to value our children; the reality is that we don't.

[RedRat]

04:47 PM on 01/01/2011

Amen to that. You are on target. All buses ought to have some kind of protective device.

[palindrom]

09:32 AM on 01/01/2011

A fair number of commenters are saying that students should just walk to school. They obviously don't live where I live -- it'd take at least 1 1/2 hours each way. The wind chills can get down to -30 or so, too. There are school districts that are far more spread out than ours, where it would take days to walk to school.

[RedRat]

04:49 PM on 01/01/2011

I think these are conservatives who still think this is 1825 and the Ol' School House is just down the road a piece. Pardon me, while I whittle a bit of wood sitting here on a chair in front of the Ol' Country Store. Sometime nostalgia for a fictional American Past gets in the way of rational thought.

[Sol eire]

02:10 AM on 01/02/2011

people who think that their reality is everyone's reality.

[MetrointheWoods]

06:41 AM on 01/01/2011

The republithug solution is simple: give your kid a car and/or send them to private school.

[jcd8822]

10:44 PM on 12/31/2010

The Alabama study states “Costs far exceed benefits, and school bus seat belts appear to be less cost-effective than other types of safety treatments." How can one place a price on the benefit of saving a child’s life? That is because their children are not riding buses. I am still trying to figure out what other types of “safety treatments” there are.
I am still surprised that the buses are not air conditioned.

[Davest]

12:40 PM on 01/01/2011

Easy, it's not *THEIR* kids......

[RedRat]

04:50 PM on 01/01/2011

i have seen these kinds of statements "...other kinds of safety treatments". What exactly are those "treatments", I hear people say that but have never heard exactly what they are. Let's try putting them on the table and let everyone take a look and let's see if they are even viable. So far nuttin'.

[laddieluv]

10:01 PM on 12/31/2010

As a high school teacher (retired,) I used to advise speech teams, drama and other extra-curricular activities that required school bus trips.

Absolutely scared chitless to ride the bus. No seat belts.

Sometimes would send my assistant.

And I would drive.

Blood pressure and anxiety level at defcon 5.

Never ever have understood this lack of basic safety in our schools.

Oh, ya. The right wing has been stripping education budgets for eons.

So no money for safety.

Or supplies, for that matter.

Heck. I used to have to buy pens for my students.

Brain exploding just thinking about this.

[Ghoulish]

06:14 PM on 12/31/2010

I sure wouldn't drive a school bus if I had to be responsible for driving safely AND making sure the kids are safely buckled in for the entire trip. That liability is far too great for the pay. Also, who has the money to put seat belts in the buses, buy more buses because they will now hold fewer students, and pay an aid to make sure the kids are using the seat belts correctly, staying belted, and not hitting each other with them. If you think your little brat won't "play" with those seat belts inappropriately, then you're a fool. I think it's a pretty decent system for what we're willing to pay.

[thehawke]

11:14 PM on 12/31/2010

Tell that to the parents of these girls.

[Ghoulish]

07:57 PM on 01/01/2011

Those same parents didn't seem to have a problem with the no seat belts on school buses when they signed the release slip to allow them to ride the bus.

[RedRat]

04:54 PM on 01/01/2011

Well perhaps these little brats need to be disciplined, how's that for an idea. Maybe if little Johnny or Mary kept fiddling with the belt, you tell Mom and Pop that the kid can no longer ride the bus, you take him/her or they walk to school. Oh, yeah, I forgot, we live in society that doesn't want to interfere with a kid's desire to explore, we don't want to harm their little psyches, they must be free to be themselves. Yeah, sure.