ALT-7 Should School Buses have and Enforce Seat Belt use – Yes
When I began working with special education students, one thing was clear: Their school buses had heat, air conditioning and seat belts.
This surprised me. How naive - I thought all children had equal protection under the law. I didn't know that some children qualified for seat belts while others did not. Apparently my school district, stupidly, did not realize all students can fly through a window during an auto accident. Apparently school officials believe that safety matters only under certain conditions.
While my own child rode a bus without heating, air conditioning or seat belts, others rode in safety and comfort. If an accident occurred, only the special education students would be safe. My own child, because she has no disability, would have to fend for herself. What is wrong with this picture?
It is a State law that I wear my seat belt when I drive. And I agree wholeheartedly with this law. I must have my child buckled up in safety restraints or face harsh fines and stiff penalties. Habitual abusers who defy the child safety restraint requirements may even be referred to Child Protective Services, as well they should. Yet, the same State that mandates my seat belt usage also waives that requirement for school children on buses. In short, school buses are immune to laws that keep children safe.
If special education buses can be fitted with seat belts, then it stands to reason that all school buses can be retrofitted with seat belts. It makes me angry that this has not already happened. My child has come home with a bruised forehead because the bus driver stopped suddenly. My child has flown up in the air when the bus went over a bump in the road. And God forbid her bus is ever hit, or rolls over, or falls off a bridge. There would be nothing to keep her from being thrown or crushed.
Some people say that smarty-pants junior or senior high kids would refuse to buckle up on a school bus, so why bother? This ridiculous! Children who refuse to follow the rules would simply be banned from the bus. Some say that the cost of retrofitting buses is too costly. What - like the life of a child has a price tag? Others say that buses are tanks - impervious, like the Titanic. But I hear about school bus accidents on the news. And I wonder when the mother of all lawsuits will occur. I wonder when hundreds of thousands of parents will band together and petition the State of Texas for school bus safety overhauls.
Perhaps such a movement should begin with me . . . but I opted out. I quit my job for one with better hours, so that I could drop off and pick up my child from school. My child is not longer on a bus - I simply could not tempt fate any longer. Her life is too important to me. And it is a shame that the State of Texas does not feel the same way.
However, not all parents are able to remove their children from school buses. Therefore, it falls to them to raise a stink until State lawmakers take notice. It is only when news reporters swoop in for an interview, and negative publicity darkens their door, that officials take action. So parents, if you must put your child on a bus, at least lobby for seat belts. After you win that one, then perhaps you will be inspired to go after heating and airconditioning for your child.
If seat belts are required in a car, then they absolutely should be required in a school bus.
