Do you think that seatbelts should be installed in school buses?

Question

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts were on this. It's a law that children should wear a seatbelt, yet there are so many school buses transporting our children without them. Do you think anything will ever be done about this??

Answer 1

I've always thought they should have restraints like on roller coasters. Everyone seated and the bar comes down and keeps everyone secured. Time to get off the bus and the driver releases the bar. Seriously, if a 17 year old can do this at Six Flags to keep riders from falling out of a ride, why can't we do it on school buses? Everyone is secure in their seats and in case of emergency, the driver can release everyone as easily as using the pull on the door.

Answer 2

This is a tough question that I debated with a bus driver once and she brought up an important point with young kids on a bus.

In an emergency when you need to get all the kids off the bus in a hurry you have 1 adult who will need to unbuckle all the little kids while pushing past older ones trying to exit to the front. Plus the driver will not be outside the bus keeping the kids safe.

For those of you who have 5 and 6 year olds who unbuckle themselves all the time, could they do it in an emergency?

The other issue is the kind of belt. Shoulder belts are the way to go for all kids---abdomen injuries from lap belts kill kids. So now the issue becomes sizing and setting the straps for the different size kids. My five year old sitting with the straps set for my 10 year old would have his neck caught by the belt in a sudden stop.

Getting all the straps all set and kids in properly would take time, but it could be done. It just isn't very pracatical given the size of modern buses.

The answer is smaller buses. That way the kids could be supervised, put in belts that fit and gotten off in a hurry if needed.

Smaller buses gets us back to money (more buses, drivers, gas) and pollution...which is why buses are so big to begin with!

BTW What about backpacks? In a serious accident it would be like getting hit with a sack of bricks. There's nothing to prevent any of that stuff from flying around the inside of the bus.

Answer 3

I am glad to read the perspectives of adults, because they all are very sensible.
Although, now here's the perspective of a seventh grade girl who has been riding the bus for five years now: the thing with buses is that when you sit down, sometimes you have to get up right away. Bus drivers can be old. VERY old. They're not always watching you when you get off your at your stop. If it takes you forever to get your seat belt off, guess what? You have a high chance of missing your stop. Also, kids wouldn't really wear them. Now, this is just personal experiance from riding a bus full of monkeys. Kids like to get up, move around, turn back and talk to friends. It's just one of the fun parts of taking the bus. And like someone said, in emergency, you can't get them off. The bus driver can't go around making sure that every belt is on and perfect. They can't even make sure everyone is seated.
Another point: buses are small enough already. It's a pain finding a seat on my crammed bus. If you get smaller buses, you're just going to have to get a lot of smaller buses, and chances are it'll all equal out to the same cost as one big bus.
Not only that, but do you realize how much of a pain it would be to make sure every single child is on the right bus for all those buses? It's just not sensible. Not many kids on my bus get hurt or harmed, they haven't for the five years I've been on a bus in two different states, so I think it's fine. You can't just look at safety alone, you have to look at other ways it would deeply affect it.

Answer 4

no I don't... I can understand why everyone does though.. However like mentioned above.. If something happened it would be impossible for a school bus driver to unbuckle all the kids and get them off a bus (ex. the bus stalled on train tracks and train is coming) yes sure most of the kids are capable of undoing their own seatbelt.. However do you want your kid to stay on the bus because they need to help the busdriver undo all the youngsters seat belts.. Look at the stats.. How long have buses been around? How many deaths have their been due to no seatbeats??

I think it works now so stick with it!

Answer 5

Without a doubt I think buses should have seat belts. When my daughter was in head-start, the buss es had seat belts but that is the only bus have ever seen with them. I rode on the bus with my daughter on a school field trip and I swore I would never ride on one again. The kids were seat hopping, sitting 4 to a seat while the bus driver and teachers tried to pretend they were somewhere else.

I bet $7000.00 a bus is cheaper than the lawsuits paid for an injured child. A life of a child has to be worth more than the cost of a seat belt. The government requires our children to be restrained in a safety seat or a seat belt when they are in a private car. The government regulates the schools. You would think the same laws would apply. I would like to see a bus driver get a minor (under age 14) seat belt violation ticket for every child on their bus that wasn't wearing one. I bet they would check then and establish the same kind of rules they have for talking and shouting on the bus. If you violate the rules, you walk or your parents find you alternative transportation.

Answer 6

I think absolutely that seatbelts should be installed on school buses. My husband and I have talked about this many times. You never know what can happen on a school bus, and it would keep the children in their seats, where they belong.

Answer 7

yes it is a tragedy that the 4 children were killed in a bus accident. After years of trying to figure out why seat belts have never been installed in school buses the only answer I can give you is that it is safer not to have the. I know it sounds like an oxymoron. Here is the scene-- if all the kids were buckled in and the bus rolled into ditch filled with water, knocking out most of the kids. would it be faster to pull them out not buckled in or laying in the water unrestrained? of course unrestrained would make their rescue easier. This logic applies in most cases. Given the number of school buses and the infrequency of accidents I would say this is a non issue. Accidents happen unfortunately people die in accidents and even if we put in seat belts it would still happen/

Answer 8

I think that school buses should have seatbelts to protect our children but will the state and government enforce it enough to provide the security no not unless something happens where a bus get into an accident an entire bus filled with middle classed white dies only then something will be done

sorry if i offended you but only wanted to get my point across

Answer 9

I think they should be installed. I don't know why they aren't. I would get a ticket if they were riding in my car without a seat belt on (which they wouldn't be) Maybe it would cost too much to go in and put seat belts in all the buses? Although what price can you put on kids lives? I thinks it's terrible that there are so many kids riding in school buses with no seat belts.

Answer 10

Actually, they are already starting. I live in South Florida and the bus my children ride has seat belts (yes, public school). It is a rule (and a law, of course) that they wear them, but I know the bus driver is not checking. In that case, we just need to trust that our children are doing the right thing.