School buses and seat belts

[Anonymous]

Do your kids wear the seat belts on the school bus? Do all school buses have seat belts in this area?

[Anonymous]

No, most don't have seat belts except for special needs or preschool. That is why we drive the kids when we can.

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, most don't have seat belts except for special needs or preschool. That is why we drive the kids when we can.

Really?

It's safer to be on the school bus without a seat belt than in the car with a seat belt. Unless you regularly go sky-diving with your children or something similar, driving your children in the car is the most dangerous regular activity you do with your children.

[Anonymous]

If you do a online search you can find out about school bus design and safety. Here is a link to an article from the NHTSA. Note - I beleive there is another point of view.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/Seat+Belts/Seat+Belts+on+School+Buses+--+May+2006

[Anonymous]

School buses are safer but they are not accident free. Its a cost issue and school districts do not want to pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you do a online search you can find out about school bus design and safety. Here is a link to an article from the NHTSA. Note - I beleive there is another point of view.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/Seat+Belts/Seat+Belts+on+School+Buses+--+May+2006

Thanks, but I'm particularly interested in small school buses that have shoulder/lap belts installed (by law). I'd like to know if children have to use them by law. Not getting anything from my Google search, so I guess the situation is that small school buses must have the belts installed, but kids don't have to use them?

Anyone have kids on a small school bus - does the bus driver insist they belt up?

TIA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School buses are safer but they are not accident free. Its a cost issue and school districts do not want to pay.

wrong

a bus is designed for comparmentalization. unless a bus turns over most kids are totally fine in a crash

it has nothing to do with cost.

of the kids killed in bus crashes, some of them were in seat belts and where not able to undo the belt and burned to death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you do a online search you can find out about school bus design and safety. Here is a link to an article from the NHTSA. Note - I beleive there is another point of view.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/Seat+Belts/Seat+Belts+on+School+Buses+--+May+2006

Thanks, but I'm particularly interested in small school buses that have shoulder/lap belts installed (by law). I'd like to know if children have to use them by law. Not getting anything from my Google search, so I guess the situation is that small school buses must have the belts installed, but kids don't have to use them?

Anyone have kids on a small school bus - does the bus driver insist they belt up?

TIA

I'm guessing that this is either state law (like other seatbelt and car seat laws), or school district/private school policy. If I wanted to know the answer, I would start with my public school district's transportation department or whoever is in charge of bus transportation at my private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School buses are safer but they are not accident free. Its a cost issue and school districts do not want to pay.

wrong

a bus is designed for comparmentalization. unless a bus turns over most kids are totally fine in a crash

it has nothing to do with cost.

of the kids killed in bus crashes, some of them were in seat belts and where not able to undo the belt and burned to death.

Having run a school bus system in the last 3 years, it has everything to do with cost.

[Anonymous]

I think seat belts add another layer of liability that the schools wouldn't want to take on. That bus driver would now have to ensure all 40 of her kids were buckled and stayed buckled. That seems like a logistical nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think seat belts add another layer of liability that the schools wouldn't want to take on. That bus driver would now have to ensure all 40 of her kids were buckled and stayed buckled. That seems like a logistical nightmare.

It is a driver's job to keep the children safe on the bus. I'm not seeing why a driver should not be responsible to make sure the kids are buckled and stay buckled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think seat belts add another layer of liability that the schools wouldn't want to take on. That bus driver would now have to ensure all 40 of her kids were buckled and stayed buckled. That seems like a logistical nightmare.

It is a driver's job to keep the children safe on the bus. I'm not seeing why a driver should not be responsible to make sure the kids are buckled and stay buckled.

Because they are one person whose focus is on driving safely to school. how would they ever police who was buckled and who wasn't unless they continually took their eyes off the road to check on the 15 rows of seats. And what if kids did unbuckle - if they stopped the bus every time, it could take hours to get to school. how would they enforce it if a kid refused? Put them off the bus on the side of the road? Refuse to keep driving and just have kids miss school that day?

there all all kinds of logistical issues with expecting a school bus driver to be responsible for having kids buckle up and stay buckled.

[Anonymous]

I carpooled a kid to preschool who wouldn't wear the seatbelt. I pulled over and sat for ten minutes. He finally put it on. He was four.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I carpooled a kid to preschool who wouldn't wear the seatbelt. I pulled over and sat for ten minutes. He finally put it on. He was four.

You understand that your experience in a car with a preschool kid is not necessarily comparable to the experiences of school bus drivers, right?