Should Seat Belts Be Required on School Buses?

The issue of school bus safety has been a highly debated topic here in Alabama over the past few months. In November 2006, a bus carrying students from Lee High School plunged over a concrete barrier on Interstate 565, resulting in the death of four students and numerous other injuries (1). Immediately the community responded with demands that government officials investigate the safety of the state's bus system.

School bus design and safety guidelines have not changed significantly since the 1970's. The interior is designed to protect students in an accident without the use of seat belts. The seats are closely spaced and have padded backs; in the event of a crash the rider's body will come into contact evenly with the back of the seat. According to a 1999 study by the National Transportation Safety Board, restraining the passenger's body with a belt would cause the head to whip forward in an accident with a force greater than if the whole body had been thrown (2).

Further study demonstrated that the combination lap and shoulder belts would require stiffer seats, thus eliminating the safety feature of the padded backs. Also, the shoulder straps increased the chance of abdominal injuries, and tests showed children could slide down in the seat, risking injuries to organs covered by the lap belts.

The drivers themselves have objected as well, claiming that seat belts would make it more difficult for them to help children out of the bus in the event in the crash.

Now, nearly 7 months after the Lee High tragedy, a panel of safety and transportation experts has presented their findings to Governor Bob Riley. The panel recommended that 15 buses throughout the state be equipped with seat belts for a trial period of three years. They also plan to look over the decades old safety guidelines as well, and make any improvements they feel necessary (3).

The group cited several reason for implementing the safety belts. First, children who are properly buckled in cannot move about the vehicle, endangering themselves and distracting the driver. Secondly, seat belts do offer greater protection in side-impact and rollover accidents. In order for the belts to be effective, however, they must be able to be adjusted to the child's height, and must be kept in good repair.

Despite the incident here in Huntsville, and more recently the tragedy in Atlanta, children are statistically 16 times safer riding the bus than in a passenger vehicle. On average only 11 students are killed each year in school bus crashes. However, Alabama officials are hoping to pioneer new safety measure, and hopefully can reduce the number of injuries and fatalities across the country.

Sources:

1. "At Least Three Students killed in School Bus Crash". CNN. URL: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/20/bus.crash/index.html
2. "Seat Belts on School Buses". NHTSA. URL: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.e712547f8daccabbbf30811060008a0c/
3. "Committee recommends pilot study for 10 buses with seat belts" WAFF news. URL: http://waff.com/Global/story.asp?s=6156663