How come I and my son must (by law) be seatbelted in our car and not in his schoolbus?

Answer 1

I remember hearing many years ago they were afraid that kids would hit each other with the seat belts believe me I think it is ridiculous also.

Answer 2

School busses are designed to be much safer than a car. Your un-seatbelted son is less likely to become injured during an accident while riding his schoolbus than he would be if he were seatbelted in a car while involved in an accident.
Sidenote: Some busses do have seatbelts and even safety (car) seats for the little guys.

Answer 3

A month or so ago, we had a school bus go over an overpass, sparking the debate once again for school bus seat belts. One of the concerns mentioned was that so many different ages and sizes of kids ride the buses that it makes it hard to design a seat belt that would work correctly. The argument was that in a car, you graduate from a car seat facing backwards, then a car seat facing forwards, then a booster, etc. based on the size and weight of the child, but in a bus, it's the same seat all the time. The authorities are still looking into the situation.......

Answer 4

There are several reasons.
1) Your child is safer on a school bus without a belt, then he is in your car with a belt. Just imagine colliding with a five ton bus versus your 3000 pound car, the kids inside the bus will wonder what that "bump" was.
2) Kids can't be trusted to put the belts on right every single day. If a belt is on wrong it's worse then not using it.
3) The greatest source of school bus injuries involve the kids getting on and off the bus.
4) The greatest danger to school buses is having the driver distracted by the kids! Luckily, bus drivers are amongst the best drivers in the world!
5)Your kid wouldn't be safe on a bus driven by me, the first time he wised off, I'd throw him out, while we were moving!

Answer 5

The answer we got from the city and Transportation Safety Board after a deadly School bus accident, was that if there were seatbelts in school buses; then the children would be trapped in case of an accident (ie.fire).
Fear/panic would make the children freeze up and panic to release seatbelt.

Answer 6

the government is too cheap to get seatbelts and also since the vehicles are filled with kids of all different sizes and weight, some might not be able to fit into a seatbelt and there would be no other place for backpacks and projects to go. I think the government is too cheap to use them since the vehicle is bigger than most vehicles around it and the bus drivers have to follow very strict laws on speed limit and other things.

Answer 7

Bus Construction
In an accident involving a school bus, most fatalities and injuries occur outside of the bus. The construction of a typical school bus creates a safer passenger environment than that of a car or lighter vehicle. The impact of a crash is weaker because buses are heavier. This force is distributed differently along a bus. Buses have a body-on-frame design. This greatly differs from lighter vehicles, and provides impact protection not found elsewhere.

A bus' interior also differs from a car. The use of closely spaced seats that have padded backs -- a design called compartmentalization -- creates an enclosed environment for passengers in the absence of seat belts.

Studies of Safety
Numerous studies examining the effectiveness of different belt types and seating arrangements came to the same conclusion: seatbelts on a bus have more drawbacks than advantages.

Neither lap nor lap-and-shoulder belts on a bus provide the same type of protection offered in a car. During a head-on collision, the most common type for belts, lap belts, increase the risk of injury. On impact, this type of restraint allows a passenger's head to jerk forward, risking severe head and neck injury. Lap and shoulder belts would require the installation of stiffer seats. These seats could become a source of impact injury. Studies also showed that children slip downwards when restrained by lap and shoulder belts, risking injury to vulnerable internal organs.

In 1999, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) examined the effect of seat belt installation in buses. They came to the conclusion that seat belts actually would result in head injuries and fatalities. In fact, the NTSB found a relationship between most injuries/deaths and the seating position of the passenger. In these cases, the presence of seat belts would change nothing.

While there is no evidence proving that seat belts on buses save lives, there is reason to worry they may cause harm. During an emergency, seat belts could hinder young children from quickly exiting the bus; they simply could not free themselves. Drivers would be hard pressed to monitor belt usage for every student. And the heavy buckles could be used as weapons.

Studies by federal agencies, including the NTSB, have shown bus construction provides greater safety than seat belts ever could. Comparing the design of a school bus to a car is like comparing apples to oranges. Where belts protect passengers during car collisions, their presence may cause severe injuries on a bus. Seatbelts are only required on small buses weighing less than 10,000 pounds because their design more closely resembles a car. It is ironic, but the reality is that seat belts have no place on a school bus.
safety.com

Answer 8

In many accidents, people panic. They can't unlock their seat belts, or find the catch. I would not like to be the person trying to help 90 children find, and unlock their belts in case of fire, unconscious, scared, or panicking children. In the past, NTSB (national traffic safety board) has found it safer for buses not to have seat belts, but to cushion the area around them. Higher, cushioned seats etc...

I can understand their reasoning, and by far many more children die in autos, over school buses.

Answer 9

well, if you think about it, cars are much smaller and generally go much faster than a bus. a bus is huge and slower and in a crash would have more damage done to the thing it hits than itself. now, however, seat belts come with most schoolbuses today. our school updated immediately. and more people use cars than schoolbuses, so naturally the law is mandatory for cars. the law for schoolbuses certainly changing.

Answer 10

Until recently, manufacturers were not even required to INSTALL belts on buses of any kind, so laws requiring their use are slow in coming.