Should Seat Belts be Required on School Buses
Is there any news photo more chilling than that of a school bus on its side beside a busy highway? The average reader feels compelled to read the accompanying article to see how many children were killed or injured. The thought of helpless youngsters tossed about like sardines in a can in the event of a bus collision or other mishap, is horrifying. Surely every precaution should be taken to ensure the young passengers are as safe as possible as they travel to and from their school.
Experts say that shoulder belts would offer greater protection than lap belts. The latter could cause injury to the stomach or the head. The technology to adapt car seat belts for use in buses still needs to be developed.
Among the advantages of equipping school buses with seat belts are:
- They would improve safety in the event of collisions or rollovers. Children could not be thrown against the floor or ceiling, or ejected into the aisle or through windows.
- Seat belts would reduce the chance of injuries caused when children stick their heads or arms out the windows of a moving bus.
- They would improve behaviour by keeping the children in their seats while the bus was moving.
- They would reduce non-collision type accidents such as children tumbling into the aisle or falling when trying to change seats while the bus is in transit.
- Having to buckle up on the school bus as well as in the family car would reinforce to the children the importance of remembering to always make use of this safety feature.
The cost of installing seat belts on buses has been estimated at $1,000 to $15,000 per vehicle. Surely this is cheap compared with the expense of treating even a few of the potential injuries in even one school bus accident.
Some drivers express concern about the extra time needed to ensure that every one of up to sixty children were buckled in before the bus started. At most, it would add a half hour to their working day, for which they could be compensated. It seems a small price to pay for the children's safety.
Some experts feel that seat belts are unnecessary because buses are built with strong, padded, flexible, closely-spaced seats which offer adequate protect for passengers. This design is called "compartmentalization". It is supposed to protect passengers the same way an egg carton protects its contents. However, compartmentalization would be of little use in the event of a rollover or a side impact.
Besides, children are notoriously restless. They cannot always be relied upon to remain calmly in position for any length of time. Buckling them into seat belts would counteract the tendency to wiggle and wander.
Children are the future, our most important resource. We should make every effort to keep them safe. Seat belts will increase the chances of their survival should the unthinkable happen. An upturned school bus by the side of a highway will never be a pleasant sight, but the installation of seat belts may make it less of a tragedy than it otherwise might have been.
