I don't understand why school buses

[takeonyou]

I'm in NJ and our buses have seatbelts. Ds has been on the bus since K. They actually have a K orientation and the first stop is each child getting onto the bus, buckling and unbuckling the seatbelt and they do a whole bus safety speech about how the bus driver won't drive unless everyone is buckled.

[shell24]

Yeah, this bothers me too.

[Captain Serious]

I used to work in the field of transportation legislation. A lot of the issues were covered in the link EM posted. Mostly, that the compartmentalization created by the high-backed seats is supposed to protect children in accidents. However, this doesn't work in severe side-impact or roll-over crashes. As EM stated, these are much rarer for School buses than other types of vehicles, but they do happen. There's a horrible video out there that just shows the kids being thrown around from side to side against the hard sides of the bus.

Many of the other arguments we heard were liability/enforcement driven. A law does no good unless it can be enforced. If a law requires students to wear seat belts, how would anyone know if the kids were complying without boarding buses? If they weren't wearing them, who would be held responsible/ticketed? The parents? Bus driver? An aide, if the bus has one?

Cost was also mentioned, but only in terms of a state-wide mandate for all buses. A compromise some states have come up with us to require all buses manufactured after a certain date to be retrofitted or originally manufactured with seat belts, but not to legislate the use of the belts. The thought is that at least if the seat belts are there, families/passengers can choose to use them and local authorities/districts can choose to create and enforce seat belt use requirements.

I rarely heard comments about kids beating each other up with them and never heard that it's easier to get kids or without seat belts. Most school-age kids use their own seat belts in cares, so that argument seems disingenuous for the majority.

[thelurkylulu]

Apr 25, 2014 5:25:36 GMT -5 hi725 said:

Apr 24, 2014 22:36:21 GMT -5 pagas said:

Just adding to my list of reasons why I am driving Finley to school instead of letting her take the bus.

My school doesn't allow this. I have to put him on the bus. I am not happy.

How they can force you to make your child ride a bus?

[peachdragon]

Apr 24, 2014 22:46:28 GMT -5 toledo said:

Apr 24, 2014 22:36:21 GMT -5 pagas said:

Just adding to my list of reasons why I am driving Finley to school instead of letting her take the bus.

she's safer in the bus than in your car.

I'm glad someone said it.

[missyny]

My 3 yr old goes to a special school and is in a carseat on the bus. He will be next year, too. But once he us 5...nothing!

Crazzzy!!!!!

[bittybomb]

Our school buses have seat belts. 

We live too close to the school for bussing, so my son only ever goes on buses for school trips, and he thinks it is the coolest ever.

[thelurkylulu]

I wonder if there are also major liability issues with having seatbelts on buses? I would assume that if they had them, the bus driver would then be responsible for making sure they were buckled (especially with the younger kids) and that would probably open up an entirely big can of legal worms if there was an accident.