Why aren't there seat belts on the school bus?

jem

because kids will just take them off the driver can't keep track of all the kids in that bus to see if they still have it on or not

Beck

Seat-belts were designed for cars, and have saved thousands of lives. School buses are designed with safety (but not seat-belts) in mind; they are not built like cars. Buses are much larger, higher and heavier than other vehicles on the road, so they have a body-on-frame design. For seat-belts to enhance rider safety, the bus body would have to be completely re-engineered with seat-belts integrated at the design stage.

Beyond the engineering problems someone would need to ensure the seat-belts are used, adjusted properly between uses by small and larger children, and repaired when damaged. In an emergency, SEAT-BELTS COULD HINDER EVACUATION. Young children should not be placed in a situation where they must become responsible for their own safety.

School bus standards vary between countries. In Canada, almost 40 federal standards apply to the design and construction of school buses. These standards combine to make Canadian school buses an extremely safe mode of transportation. A school bus does not have safety belts like a passenger vehicle, but it does have many passive safety systems engineered into it.

Source(s):
http://www.safety-council.org/info/traff...

michael t

The D.O.T department of transportation has determined that in accident that with all the people on board in a emergency that it would be faster to evacuate the passengers in a timely manner.

tumbleweed1954

I've never been able to figure this out either. Ironically, the driver wears a seat belt but the 5-year-old behind him doesn't.

TedsGMC

The reason school buses do not have safety belts in them is that the National Highway&Transportation Safety Dept.(The U.L.) of the automobile industry and the Consumer Product Safety Commision does not require them, they are required for the drivers seat effective Jan.1,1995. Also school buses have been "safety" regulated since Jan.1,1973. and "enhanced" in '77and '84.

Eric K

I agree BUT... There IS an actual reason why. I worked for Fox News and early on (late 90's) I did copy for a story on this. A study was published that showed there are more injuries WITH the seat belts than WITHOUT. Weird huh? What was happening was kids were whacking each other with the seat belts and causing injuries. Statistically much greater problems were with seat belts. On older buses, when I was in early grade school, back in the late 70's some had seat belts. They were removed later because of the problems. This is why seats are so tall on school buses and padded. If the bus was in an accident front or back, the children would be protected by the seats themselves. Rollovers are a problem, but again, the statistics showed that the amount of injuries that could have been avoided with seat belts paled in comparison with the injuries (many hospital injuries) that happened with seat belts. Counter intuitive, but things work out that way sometimes. But the way the seats are designed now, the children are offered some protection.
Hope this helps!

layla

that is a very good question...I was wondering the same thing..."it's click it or ticket" but what about the other transportation like buses and stuff....

missingora

The excuse given for no seat belts on school buses is that they are cost prohibitive. How's that for ridiculous?

anitababy.brainwash

Stupidity

jagtic

in lanarkshire in scotland all school buses have to be fitted with seat belts.they are checked on a regular basis by the dept of transport,if any belts are faulty the bus is withdrawn from sevice and a replacment bus is used

True_Brit

In Britain it has just become Law that everyone on a Bus must wear a seat belt, and buses must have seat belts fitted. This used to not be the case because lap belts can cause allot of injury by digging into the body if the bus stops fast.

Jim M

If you think it is ridiculous that school buses do not have seat belts, take your chances on driving your kids to school in your Volvo. Your car has seat belts, it MUST be safer than a 17,000lb. bus that sits off of the ground a minimum of 36", and designed to withstand severe impacts with items like dump trucks, and freight trains. Adding seat belts to a School bus would do more harm than good. It has been proven, this is a fact, not an opinion.

But, I'm sure you and your family will be much safer in your SUV when that trash truck hits you at 50MPH!!

Your are absolutely correct, you should feel comfortable putting your children in a School Bus, it is proven to be the SAFEST mode of transportation in the United States.

tony b

in time in Britain the government will start to agree with you,but at the moment there are to many old buses in service that are used to take children to school, and the truth is that the bus companies will not spend money converting them because they don,t have to, these buses are only used twice a day on school runs then they go back into service.

more importantly though why are school classes limited to 35 pupils per class, but a bus driver has to have responsibility for up to 80 pupils which involves driving a 13 ton vehicle and trying to control pupils behavior scary yes but true, im afraid.

but keep bringing the subject up keep campaigning and maybe just maybe seat belts will be fitted in EVERY bus

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