Why aren't there seatbelts on busses?

Question

Afterall, shouldn't we be trying to keep our children safe (and isn't it a law)?

Answer 1

I have 5 kids in school and, of course, I care about their safety on buses, so this is a topic and question that I have researched thoroughly over the past 6 months. Here is what I have found.

Everyone always throws out the money as the a main reason. While I agree funding is certainly a factor, consider that 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 most school buses.

Answer 2

There aren't seatbelts because children need to get off the bus qucickly by stops, and often there's 2 or 3 in a seat at a time. And also, a bus is pretty long and has many seats, so there's a lot of padding in an accident, and plus they are pretty high up and far away from the front or the back. I know on buses for special needs children, they have seatbelts in every seat. But then again, those buses are smaller, and usually the driver has to buckle the children in and deal with wheelchairs. On a larger bus, it would be difficult to buckle each kid in, and plus most routes are timed and the driver does not have as much time to wait for the child to undo the buckle. Also, it's probably costly to put that many seat belts in.

Answer 3

I just answered this question a few days ago....Larger school buses have a system called compartmentalization. They have found through crash testing that school aged children and older fair much better with this system than the preschool children. Smaller buses (10,000lbs and under) are required to have seatbelts b/c they usually transport preschoolers.

Here is a link to where I answered http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind... I also cut and pasted below.

Buses that are 10,000lbs or less have seatbelts in them, but a regular school bus does not. Public transportation buses that have seats like that of a school bus do not require them either. Passenger seating and crash protection, known as "compartmentalization" is required on school buses. Compartmentalization is a passive occupant protection system using the concept of eggs in a carton. The seats must have flexible, enery-absorbent high seat backs. The combination of these seat backs and narrow spacing creates a compartment within which each occupant is confined in a crash....make sense?? As pp stated, Bus transportation, or to be specific, school bus transportation, is 8 times safer than passenger vehicles. Buses are larger and heavier than most other vehicles. The crash forces are distributed throughout the vehicle differently and are experienced by the occupants differently

Answer 4

I don't really know why there aren't seatbelts but I have wondered the same thing. But if you think about it if the bus were in an accident and it flipped how would the kids get out if they are seat belted in? There are some advantages for seatbelts and there are disadvantages of seatbelts on a school bus

Answer 5

This has been addressed... Believe it or not, the reason they gave for no seatbelts???? It is to expensive for the governments to add them.. What a copout. They would rather increase their own pocketbooks with pay than put it towards the safety of its citizens......

Answer 6

Excellent question!!

Our buses in UK doesn't have seat belts, but our coaches do. And from my experience, they are rarely used.

Maybe it was because the buses are rarely in crashes and the speed they goes are low. There's a new decives in coaches now where you cannot go over a speed limit.

Answer 7

I am a former newspaper reporter and can only say this from experience. The dentist lobby group has fought this for years.
Reason, when crashes occur, teeth get smashed and dentists get paid for dental repairs.