What are your opinions on seat belts in buses?

nomatt

New member
Please move this if it isn't an appropriate place for the question... I live in CT and there is a law being discussed to mandate seat belts on buses. I have a lot of questions - mostly that I'm obviously for seat belts but what does that mean for little kids? If it goes forward, should my 5 year old have a booster on the bus? Will the schools check how the seat belt fits every child? Our 3 year old pre-schoolers have safe-go harnessed seats to wear if they ride the bus, but at 4 right now, we have nothing.

Thoughts? Anyone have knowledge on this issue?

Thanks,
Sandy
 
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safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
I'm against seat belts on large buses. An unbelted child (and face it, if you stick 40 kids on a bus with 1 adult, somebody is going to unbuckle at the first opportunity) can cause serious injury to a belted child sitting in front of them. The unbelted kid would load into the seat back and trap the belted kid between the seat back and the belt. The risk of injury from everybody being unbelted is actually smaller than the risk of injuries to belted children if some children are not belted.

Also, you have to consider the cost. Adding seat belts to buses is not as simple as just bolting on some webbing. The structure of the bus has to change dramatically. The seats have to be farther apart, thus requiring more buses for the number of children. The number of children who die is bus crashes is astonishingly small. Less than 10 per year on average. Many districts would just have to do away with busing altogether because they could not afford hundreds of thousands of dollars in retrofits. Those kids would then be passengers in family cars and pedestrians and you would actually see the more kids die than if those kids had been unbelted on a bus.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
I am strongly against lap-only belts on buses.

I am strongly in favor of mandating harnesses on buses for children under age 6/1st grade.

I am very slightly in favor of lap/shoulder belts on buses if funding is readily available and booster and harness provisions are made appropriately; otherwise I am slightly against.

Not very helpful, I suppose.
 

InternationalMama

New member
If they put lap-only belts on the buses and your son is in a booster he won't be able to use it, right? Because boosters need a lap-shoulder belt. Or would these belts be 3-point? This sounds like a crazy idea given the cost it would involve and the budget cuts schools are already facing.

Is this a law they are trying to pass for school buses or for all buses?
 

nomatt

New member
The Gov. of CT just put aside 2 million for buses for our voc. high schools to have seat belts. I am not 100% sure, but I believe the legislation that is coming to the state house is for shoulder belts. After it passes, the districts will have to begin implementation (if it passes).

We did just have a bad bus accident where a student died and many more were injured. This prompted the legislation.

I'm really nervous about it... lots of questions. If it were harnesses, I'd feel a lot better. It may be a few years away from implementation. I just wondered about it and if there was research on the issue.

Thanks,
Sandy
 

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