Why are there typically no seatbelts in a bus?

Question

Seems counterintuitive to me.

Answer 1

You get a star for using counterintuitive in your question! :)

Many touring buses ARE actually equipped with belts.

Public transit buses don't have them because there you can actually legally STAND on the bus. (As anohter answerer pointed out.)

School buses are always a hot topic, but UCANTCME gave a great answer on that topic and I have found similar information in my research on the subject...

Everyone always throws out the money as the a main reason that seat belts are not present. 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 and NHTSA, 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

1) Money, but not in the way you might think. If Seat belts are required, and seating capacity goes down (making it more expensive to transport each child) many poorer school districts may have to reduce their school bus access to students.

In my State, I believe we have to provide school bus transportation to any child living more than two miles away from the school. But most districts transport children who live far closer to the school, perhaps 3/4 of a mile depending on the circumstances. Also, we are not required to provide transportation for high schoolers, but we do.

If these children don't get bus transportation, then they are transported in cars, which are statistically more dangerous than their parents cars.

2) Children without seat belts are in almost no danger. In my state, we have not had a child killed on a school bus for around forty years. there have been some on-vehicle fatalities in the media lately, but they were covered because they were so unusual. And some of those deaths might not have been avoided with seat belts.

If there is nearly no threat already, adding another "safety measure" doesn't do much.

3) Ease of operation. As a school bus driver, I can tell you that getting children, especially grades 6-12, to use a seat belt will be difficult. And the effort I will have to spend will have to come from somewhere.

My guess is that it will take away from my safe loading an unloading procedure. And it is the loading and unloading procedure when most fatalities occur.

I suspect we will get seat belts in the near future, but I honestly don't think they will save any lives.

Answer 3

First, school buses, the big yellow variety, are incredibly safe. According to NHTSA, of the 23.5 million school children who travel an estimated 4.3 billion miles on 450,000 yellow school buses each year, on average, six die in crashes.

In 1977, federal regulation mandated that large school buses must have strong, closely spaced seats with energy-absorbing seatbacks, a built-in protection called "compartmentalization" that is based on the way crash forces are distributed. The buses were exempted from carrying lap belts. But the government required that small buses (with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less) carry lap belts, because the design and weight of the smaller vehicles would not offer protection similar to large ones.

Despite these measures, government accident studies from the 1980s say that passengers are still endangered in large school buses when they crash with an even bigger or heavier vehicle, such as a loaded tractor-trailer truck, or if they roll over an embankment.

Answer 4

The big buses are pretty safe. They are essentially a truck and it takes a pretty big hit to damage it significantly.

We had a Cadillac head on a bus here last year at approximately 100mph. The only death was the driver of the car and while there were injuries on the bus, they were not life threatening.

Besides, who's going to make the kids buckle up?

Answer 5

Different people have different circumstances!
Seat belts are of no use to people who had to stand, due to full loads!
Seats are usually occupied by 2 passengers, not all passengers travel the identical distance!
Should a passenger on a window seat suddenly wants to leave the vehicle, there is a danger the seat belt will injure somebody when removed!
Vandals could destroy the belts making them unusable!
In this case this would put more buses off the road, and passengers would be making complaints due to lack of services!

Answer 6

Because the seats usually are positioned higher than any other vehicle on the road, so if there was an accident there is little likelihood of the passengers taking damage to the extent the people in the other vehicle would.

Answer 7

This is the best thing anyone has EVER asked me. Yes, some have seatbelts. It's not a requirement, as the toilet doesn't classify as a seat.

Answer 8

Because it is not required by the state or federal government, it is quite cheaper for schools to avoid putting seatbelts on the buses. If more children got hurt then they would put them on, but because the rate of children hurt is less than 10 every 6 months (or at least from the reports I read), they don't feel like they need to, and parents aren't demanding it.

Answer 9

my husband is a paramedic and he gets asked this question all the time. he says that in a bus accident, it is much easier to clear out the people when they are scattered, than when they are strapped in. the seat belts are very time consuming to remove (often the clips become stuck, and they are hard to cut off, they're made to be durable), and when there's a major problem (gas leakage, fire, etc) every second helps.

Answer 10

Supposedly the high seats and the padding are the safety procedure.