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US to pay for seatbelts on school buses
Filed under: Big Kids, Day Care & Education
When I woke up this morning, I glanced out my bedroom window and was shocked to see snow swirling in the sky. Watching the big, fat flakes piling up on the window sill, my first thought was, "cool!" My second thought was "crap, Ellie has to ride the school bus in the snow."
It took a lot to convince my husband that riding the bus was a good idea and that Ellie would be safe. The recent incident with the bully did not help matters one bit. That boy, by the way, was disciplined at school and now ignores Ellie completely. So, while she is safe from bullies for now, I do still have concerns when she's riding that big yellow bus.
I am not the only one concerned about safety on the school bus. Yesterday, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters took a ride on a school bus before announcing a new proposal that has the potential to increase bus safety. If adopted, the proposal would do several things:
It took a lot to convince my husband that riding the bus was a good idea and that Ellie would be safe. The recent incident with the bully did not help matters one bit. That boy, by the way, was disciplined at school and now ignores Ellie completely. So, while she is safe from bullies for now, I do still have concerns when she's riding that big yellow bus.
I am not the only one concerned about safety on the school bus. Yesterday, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters took a ride on a school bus before announcing a new proposal that has the potential to increase bus safety. If adopted, the proposal would do several things:
- Increase the height of seat backs on all school buses from 20 inches to 24 inches to help protect older children and adults from being thrown over the seats during accidents. This requirement would go into effect in one year and would apply to new school buses only.
- Require all new short school buses - the style more prone to rollover accidents than longer buses - to begin using shoulder straps. These buses are already required to use lap belts and the shoulder belt requirement would go into effect in three years.
- For longer buses, provide federal standards for school districts that make the decision to add shoulder straps and/or lap belts. Districts would also be allowed to use federal highway safety funds to cover the additional cost of equipping buses with those devices.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
11-20-2007 @ 2:17PM
Jill said...I've always heard that one driver can't be responsible for helping dozens of seatbelted and stuck kids out of a bus in case of an accident. I've also seen a bus in an accident with a pickup, and the pickup looked like an accordian. The bus had a scratch off the paint. I think they're built like tanks.
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11-20-2007 @ 4:08PM
Amanda said...Lap-only belts are very dangerous, no one should ride in them (even adults). The dynamics of a crash are different in a school bus than in a private passenger vehicle, working by containment rather than restraint. Severe injuries in school busses are rare, and the accident rate for busses is much much lower than personal vehicles due to their size, visibility, and they don't typically travel during peak traffic hours.
Like Jill, I would be concerned about getting all those kids properly belted when boarding and unbelted in an emergency.
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11-21-2007 @ 11:36AM
Kirstie said...I graduated high school recently, and I can say that while probably half the buses in my district from middle school on have seat belts on them, I have never once seen a single person actually utilize them. Having them there really does little to make anyone safer.
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