ALT-2 Should School Buses have and Enforce Seat Belt use – Yes
Should schools buses be designed with seatbelts? Without a doubt and unequivocally, the answer is yes.
In 2007, seven students were injured in a one-vehicle accident after the bus driver looked in the mirrors to check on them and fortuitously went through a bridge railing, going into the ditch. Thankfully, the bus didn't roll over and students were not seriously hurt.
It is no surprise that the topic of school bus seatbelts came up once again in the state and around the nation.
Most school buses are not outfitted with seatbelts since they are older model vehicles. Yet, they transport the most precious commodity of our country: our children. Why is something so valuable left to so much chance of injury or death? Luckily, there was footage in the Arkansas incident of how these children were tossed about during it so persons can finally get a look at the need for seatbelts. As one person said in a local newspaper, they (the children) were tossed about like rag dolls.
Has anyone stopped to wonder why it takes an accident of this magnitude to get back to the attention of the lack of seatbelts on school buses? Parents, school officials and legislators take advantage of the bus sizes to keep their children safe. They certainly aren't safe during a rollover, right?
What bothers me is that we are told from day one that children must be buckled up. We can get pulled over and ticketed if our children are not belted in. However, we send these children on a bus that has no seatbelts, taking a chance that the bus' size will protect them. Why aren't the districts getting a ticket too or at least getting reprimanded?
The second thing that bothers me is the message we are sending our children. Isn't double standard to tell them buckle up in an automobile but not to in a school bus? How does that help parents to teach their children that value when the school should be sending the same message and isn't? It's like a mom saying, "Okay Johnny, you need to buckle up but that's okay, you don't have to worry about that on the bus." What message does that send to the child? That his safety only matters in the car and not on a school bus?
If it were just a bus' size that could do the protecting, then why do big rigs, trains, tractors and other huge vehicles have seatbelts installed? It doesn't make total sense for a legislator or even a school district to use that as an excuse. If a bus were in a rollover, do these same people think students would be in their seats in the end? Maybe we need to put the people who think that on a bus and create an accident as an experiment.
Reality is no matter the size of the bus; the only thing that would do little damage to it is a car. A bus is no match against a train or an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer but we still keep sending kids on buses, paying little attention to their safety because false thinking looks to sheer size of the bus. Hopefully, the video footage from Arkansas will wake up school officials, legislators and even parents.
What keeps these buses getting outfitted with seatbelts? It's money. It would take plenty of money to outfit these buses. More than the school can actually afford currently and more than the state education department is willing to shell out with current budgets. Are extra school taxes needed to pay for the upgrade? Can grants pay for new buses or outfit older ones? What would be the best way?
I would not mind paying an additional tax as long as the money is geared towards outfitting school buses with seatbelts or other safety devices. I'd be willing to pay more, knowing my child is safely secured in a bus. As long as it's protecting my child from the danger of being tossed about, thrown out or even crushed to death, I'd be willing to pay more.
The accident in Arkansas is a reminder to everyone that even the most careful of drivers can make mistakes. The school district noted the driver was doing what she was supposed to be doing by making sure no one was being disruptive. The accident sent several students including a 4-year old boy to the local hospital. If the bus had seatbelts installed, how many would have to have gone? Most likely, many of them would have be in school for the day learning their ABCs, not if they broke a bone or not.
