Remember when the back-to-school ads didn’t start until mid-August? Well, here we are again, weeks away from the start of another school year and “the seat belt” issue has arisen again. The latest in Texas is outlined by the Houston Chronicle:
The seat belt issue has been thrust to the forefront again after Beaumont teens traveling to a girls’ soccer playoff were thrown from their seats after their charter bus, dodging some debris, overturned on a rainy stretch of U.S. 90 on March 29.
Texas Department of Public Safety investigators said injuries would have been greatly reduced if the passengers had been restrained in their seats because the frame of the bus remained intact.
Two girls died, and 21 were injured, including one teen whose arm was amputated.
So, why again are there no seat belts on buses? We have them on cars, planes, and event the little rides at Chuck-E-Cheese. Why not school buses?
According to the National Education Agency :
To understand the question of school bus seat belts, one really has to look at the larger questions of student supervision, discipline, and safety on and around buses. There has been a lot of recent attention given to the problems that disruptive, or even violent, students can cause in schools. Bus drivers must contend with these same students.
Unlike teachers, bus drivers must care for up to 50-70 student charges at a time, while manuevering a large vehicle, contending with traffic, bad weather, and adverse road conditions. And do it all with their backs turned to the students!
Good point. Consider this from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
The NTSB concluded in a 1987 study of school bus crashes that most fatalities and injuries occurred because the occupant seating positions were in direct line with the crash forces.[2 NTSB stated that seat belts would not have prevented most of the serious injuries and fatalities from occurring in school bus crashes. In 1989, the NAS completed a study of ways to improve school bus safety and concluded that the overall potential benefits of requiring seat belts on large school buses were insufficient to justify a Federal mandate for installation.[3] NAS also stated that the funds used to purchase and maintain seat belts might be better spent on other school bus safety programs and devices that could save more lives and reduce more injuries.
What does the other side have to say? Here is a word from the National Coalition for School Bus Safety:
Opponents say they are harmful to small children. If this is true then why is there a child restraint law in every state. Seatbelts are on school buses have been endorsed by the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, American College of Preventative Medicine, Physicians for Automotive Safety, and Center for Auto Safety.
Opponents claim that seatbelts on school buses are not cost effective and that school districts should weigh costs vs. their school systems safety record. Yet they ignore the fact that seatbelts would cost most districts about $1.50 a child per year or less than a penny a day for this added protection. Even districts with proper driver screening and the best safety records, cannot predict the performance of the “other driver”.
No, not the other driver!
The Philadelphia Daily News thinks something is fishy:
I think something is fishy, too – mostly because of things that the current anti-belt research doesn’t note.
Like the chance that school buses may be safer than cars because they’re mostly driven short distances, at low speed, by drivers on a well-known route.
The context of their use, in other words, might have as much to do with their high safety rating as “compartmentalizing” does.
The research also notes that certain restraint systems can actually cause injuries – but doesn’t raise similar questions regarding injuries that might be avoided with belt use.
Is the research sloppy – or slanted?
Bottom line as I see it; school districts face daunting tasks with limited funds. Should buses have restraints? Of course they should. Will they every have them? I suspect seat belts will start appearing in buses near you very soon.
Others blogging:
More misunderestimation
