I will present the arguments against mandating seat belts in American school buses, while addressing the concerns of parents and others, based on my research.
The points I address are: lap belts (as opposed to shoulder belts and the costs of installing them) proven unsafe for small children; "compartmentalization"--the egg crate effect and its proven safety; size and structure of buses; and, cost effectiveness as compared with the very low fatality rates.
My intention is to educate parents and other concerned citizens on the reasons the NHTSA has not made seat belts in school buses mandatory.
In December 1996, President Bill Clinton asked Americans to
remember to wear their seat
belts as the first line of defense against injury and death. In April 1997, U.S. Transportation Secretary
Rodney Slater proposed a Presidential Initiative to Increase Seat Belt Use. Passenger
cars have been required to have seat belts since 1968. Furthermore, the cost of fines for
failing to wear a seat
belt increases every year. It’s obvious that United States government
officials feel passionately about seat belt usage. So, why aren’t school buses required to have them?
No federal law that exists mandating seat belts be installed in regular school buses. State and
local authorities are allowed to install them if they wish, but with an
estimated cost of around $1500 per bus to install seat belts, why would they? The law says it’s okay
not to have them, so why fix what’s not broke?
Parents and other citizens are concerned. The National
Parent Teacher Association has asked that seat belts be installed in every new school bus. Parents are
not unreasonably worried. Every year over 41,000 lives are lost in automobile
accidents. It is not irrational to assume that children would be better
protected if buckled up
on their way to school and home.
Seat
belt advocates list several major reasons for requiring seat belts in school buses:
Reduce
the number of injuries and fatalities in collisions
Reduce
the number of non-collision injuries children sustain from sticking their
arms and heads out of windows and falling out of their seats
Improve
behavior of children on buses
by keeping children seated
Reinforce
the message to “Buckle
Up”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
requires all new school
buses to meet safety requirements above those of passenger cars. These
include improved emergency exits, seating, fuel systems, and joint stability.
The administration is responsible for establishing federal safety standards for
all motor vehicles, and works with states on school bus safety programs. Nevertheless, the
NHTSA does not currently require seat belts to be installed in school buses.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has
concluded that seat belts
would provide little, if any, added protection for children involved a school bus accident. In
1987, the NTSB concluded in a study that most fatal injuries caused by school bus collisions
were due to seating positions in direct line of impact, and that seat belts would not have
prevented most of these tragedies.
Because there is no compelling evidence that seat belts would provide
added safety for school
bus occupants, and because of the outstanding safety record of school buses, the NHTSA
has concluded that there is insufficient evidence for requiring safety belts to be
installed. Several additional factors determine the stance against mandating seat belts on school buses.