Why aren't there seat belts on school buses?

Question

I've been asking this question since I was in fourth grade. I asked a police officer that question in a fourth grade assembly. It snowballed. Parents were present and it got ugly. I got suspended from school for three days. I never got an answer to my question. 45 kids on a bus with no seat belts is okay but I can't put ONE child in a car with no seat belt?! WHY?

Answer 1

This question crops up on this site with a fair amount of regularity, but it's still a fair question.

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 could certainly be a factor, consider the following. 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 buses, lap belts alone can 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 can 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 and compartmentalization 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.

I know that isn't always the popular position, but it's what most of the facts support.

I hope that helps.

Answer 2

Actually; since 1991, school buses have been equipped with seat belts. The real question to be answered is: " Why do the authorities NOT require the use of the seat belts on school buses? Agencies who test and design the modern school bus state that the new designs of their interiors known as COMPARTMENTALIZATION is more than sufficient to limit a child's chances of injury during an accident (or CRASH as they now call it). The few videos shown on various news outlets of what happens to students during a crash, or even a hefty jolt surely does not bear this theory out. And what about a bus rollover? With nothing to hold you in your seat, the forces generated during a crash can send you flying throughout the bus. Given the fact that a school bus interior is not padded and made of mostly metal, getting throwned about the interior is not a healthy prospect. As a prior school bus driver and video technician for those cameras on the buses, I have seen numerous videos of children being launched from their seats during crashes, not to mention crossing over a speed bump too fast. In my locality, there is a law already on the books requiring the students to wear their seat belts: however, school board policy does not require their use. When asked how this can be; I was refered to the tests on compartmentalization. No other explanation was given even after the authorities' review of numerous videos disputing the theory. In addition to the obvious benefits of wearing seat belts on school buses is the fact that the students would not be able to interact negatively toward each other. Keeping students in their seats tends to quell the violence which has become so prevelent in recent years. This kind of enviroment puts additional stress on the bus driver's ability to operate the vehicle safely by forcing them to divide their attention between a disturbance on the bus and the road. This; in and of itself can be disasterous. As you have personally witnessed, asking a question which no one wants to answer can provoke an ugly response. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that seat belts; not compartmentalization, is the way to go and the parents know it. As usual, it will take more children to be injured before the obvious steps toward safety are taken.

Answer 3

school buses are the safest vehicles on the roads. you cant reinforce the sides of a car the way a school bus is made. and the reason why they dont have seatbelts on school buses is because the seats in the bus are made in such a way to absorb lot of force from kids if they hit themselves against the seat in front of them. the seatback are so high that a seatbelt is not required.

but starting july 2006 all the big buses without seatbelts will have seatbelts but the capacity will go down from 3 to 2 and they will be a little smaller. not as tall as the older seats.

but there's no enforceble way to make sure all the kids stay buckled up .

Answer 4

Seatbelts can cause more harm than help if they are not the proper size for a person. A seatbelt properly sized for a 1st grader is not the right size for a 6th grader, and vice versa. Wearing an improperly sized belt can break bones in an accident that would otherwise cause bruises. Since such a large range of children ride school busses, and there is no way to individually size the proper belt to the proper child in each and every bus for each school, especially sincewho rides in each bus can change from day to day, or even change multiple times in each day, it is safer not to have seatbelts on busses.

Answer 5

In theory:

The primary purpose of seat belts is to keep you from going through the windshield. Everybody in the front seat of a school bus should be belted.

Kids in the back of the bus sit upright, unlike those in a car, and sit close to the back of the seat in front of them, unlike in a car. The theory is that that their motion is stopped before the kids build up enough momentum to get seriously hurt.

I don't completely agree with these arguments.

I always got sick when riding the bus, from the fumes that would leak into the passenger compartment. I don't like busses at all! I used to have to get on the bus in the morning, and ride for an hour to get the three miles to school, and in the evening, ride for 20 minutes to get the three miles home. It was dangerous riding a bicycle on a country road where traffic was flying along 80 miles an hour, but when I was in high school, my parents finally allowed me to ride to school, and I did, even when there was six inches of snow on the road.

Answer 6

some states like Florida require lab belts on school buses.
but.. School bus seats are constructed in a way to help prevent injury in an accident they have 4"foam seats,no more metal frames

Answer 7

a school bus goes with a limited speeds and bus itself coloured
differently,and it stops very frequently the passengers require
no seat belts

Answer 8

its law over here.and i have to agree its a good one.same with our cars .belt up. didnt mean to insult you.

Answer 9

no belts on bus co use you are learning , how to be an adult

Answer 10

I have been having the same problem as well and I want to know!!!