Should school/charter busses have seatbelts

[Amsden]

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/04/11/p...bus-in-irving/

http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico/...z/-/index.html

http://www.wcax.com/story/21789444/s...-no-seat-belts

My daughter is about at that age to start going to school. My wife and I have been discussing whether we want to bus her or drive her. I can re-work my schedule to take her in the morning and my wife can will be able to pick her up in the afternoon anyway. As this is our only child and I'm new to this I'm probably over worrying about it, and I don't like the idea of things being out of my control, especially concerning her.

Today all the local stations are talking about this tour/charter bus that crashed and killed 2 people, so I researched it a bit and learned that school busses still don't have seatbelts. I read that it would be $1,500 to $2,000 per bus to add seat belts, (in Texas all new busses after 2010 require 3 point seatbelts, I'm more talking about adding them to the older busses, so all the kids will have one) I know I would pay for a bus or 2 to have seat belts and I'm sure other parents would as well. Should probably bring this up with the local school district more than mmoc, but I just want to see if I'm overreacting before I become one of "those" parents.

[Reeve]

I don't think the kids would wear them, to be honest, and the frequency of serious school bus injury probably isn't high enough to warrant it.

[Reg]

Our school buses had seat belts, but weren't mandatory. I think most kids wouldn't wear them even if they were.

[Sam the Wiser]

Let be honest here no body on the bus wore their seat belts....Those that did got made fun of real fast I would know it happened to me.

[Kathandira]

Our school buses had seat belts, but weren't mandatory. I think most kids wouldn't wear them even if they were.

Then punish them, If any child is caught without a seatbelt, then they would be suspended from bus privileges for a set amount of time per offense.

It always freaked me out that school buses aren't required to have seat belts. In New Jersey you get a hefty fine for not wearing one, so why is it not required for children to wear them in a school bus?

---------- Post added 2013-04-11 at 04:28 PM ----------

Let be honest here no body on the bus wore their seat belts....Those that did got made fun of real fast I would know it happened to me.

So have it not be a matter of popularity and a matter of getting to school or not. Suspend children who do not wear seat belts from bus privileges.

Also require bus companies to provide buses which have seat belts.

[Gheld]

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/...es+--+May+2006

According to the Feds, No, because it costs more, and the children will be fine as long as the bus doesn't roll over, but when does that ever... oh...

And they also say that even though there is no documented case of a seat belt on a bus ever causing any injury, that doesn't mean they won't cause any.

^ That is the most callous government article I've ever read. Do you really want people like that running your country?

[Sam the Wiser]

Kathandria did you wear your seat belt everyday when you went to school?

[Reg]

Then punish them, If any child is caught without a seatbelt, then they would be suspended from bus privileges for a set amount of time per offense.

It always freaked me out that school buses aren't required to have seat belts. In New Jersey you get a hefty fine for not wearing one, so why is it not required for children to wear them in a school bus?

Because punishment works for any of the other stupid shit kids do, especially in this day and age when you can't say no to a child without their parents throwing a bitch fit.

[Ibbi]

I think the bus driver would rather quit his/her job, than attempt to get 30 kids on the bus to wear their seat belts.

[Kathandira]

Kathandria did you wear your seat belt everyday when you went to school?

That would be awfully strange to do when walking.

[Sam the Wiser]

That would be awfully strange to do when walking.

Why were you walking on the bus. Rule number 1 is always to be seated.

[Skippy88]

There was an article recently about a school bus that crashed and flipped on it's side. All the kids made it out safely aside from some cuts and bruises. If I remember right one of the reasons they don't have seatbelts is in case the bus crashes and catches on fire and the kids can't get out due to the seatbelt.

You don't read about a lot of school busses getting into accidents. If they do they usually don't get damaged too much since they are so big and they usually don't travel on freeways and major highways. I think I've read more stories about kids sleeping on the bus and missing their stop then getting into accidents.

I think your overreacting and your robbing your kid of social interactions with other kids but I understand where you are coming from though.

[Amsden]

There was an article recently about a school bus that crashed and flipped on it's side. All the kids made it out safely aside from some cuts and bruises. If I remember right one of the reasons they don't have seatbelts is in case the bus crashes and catches on fire and the kids can't get out due to the seatbelt.

You don't read about a lot of school busses getting into accidents. If they do they usually don't get damaged too much since they are so big and they usually don't travel on freeways and major highways. I think I've read more stories about kids sleeping on the bus and missing their stop then getting into accidents.

I think your overreacting and your robbing your kid of social interactions with other kids but I understand where you are coming from though.

I figured I'm overreacting, but how am I robbing her of anything? She's still in preschool and rides in their van with seat belts lol. She doesn't start going to school until the fall.

[Gheld]

There was an article recently about a school bus that crashed and flipped on it's side. All the kids made it out safely aside from some cuts and bruises. If I remember right one of the reasons they don't have seatbelts is in case the bus crashes and catches on fire and the kids can't get out due to the seatbelt.

You don't read about a lot of school busses getting into accidents. If they do they usually don't get damaged too much since they are so big and they usually don't travel on freeways and major highways. I think I've read more stories about kids sleeping on the bus and missing their stop then getting into accidents.

I think your overreacting and your robbing your kid of social interactions with other kids but I understand where you are coming from though.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/...es+--+May+2006

No, they don't put seat belts on full sized school buses because:

-Because it increases costs
-And reduces seating capacity.

The article itself acknowledges the lack of any evidence of a seat belt on a bus ever CAUSING more harm than good, but suggests that it may otherwise be true (despite the lack of evidence, but it's the government, they don't need evidence to justify ruining your life)

Straight from the regulatory horses mouth.

EDIT: They also use moral acrobatics to justify their position, by stating that School buses have an occupant fatality rate of 0.2 per 100 million vehicles TRAVELED vs. passenger cars at 1.44 per 100 million traveled.

However, I can guarantee you if you were to use a statistic of occupant fatalities per 100 million vehicles that roll over, Buses without seat belts would come out on top. No pun intended.

[Kathandira]

Why were you walking on the bus. Rule number 1 is always to be seated.

I didn't take a school bus to school. Only time i've ever been on them was for class trips. And the buses I took for those did not have seat belts. I would slide around on my seat since I was not a very large or heavy person.

[Sunseeker]

On a bus of 30+ kids, who is going to be ensuring that they put them on and keep them on? And if we develop "safety" systems where the seatbelts cannot be unbuckled while the bus is moving or the engine is running, then what happens in an accident?

[Sam the Wiser]

I didn't take a school bus to school. Only time i've ever been on them was for class trips. And the buses I took for those did not have seat belts. I would slide around on my seat since I was not a very large or heavy person.

You can't be serious about sliding around in your seat. I slept every day on the bus from child to grown adult never once moved.

[Frozenbeef]

Don't worry they have the metal bar at teeth level to stop them from getting hurt 0o

[Deleted]

Let be honest here no body on the bus wore their seat belts....Those that did got made fun of real fast I would know it happened to me.

If getting made fun of is the price for saving my Life in a possible crash.. count me in

[Gheld]

On a bus of 30+ kids, who is going to be ensuring that they put them on and keep them on? And if we develop "safety" systems where the seatbelts cannot be unbuckled while the bus is moving or the engine is running, then what happens in an accident?

This argument is terrible. People need to stop using it.