Shouldn't School Bus Seats be RF?

beeman

Active member
So anyways, with all this talk about RF and extended RF because it is so much safer, I got to thinking, shouldn't school bus seats be RF? Up here in Saskatchewan, the only seat with a seat belt on the bus is the drivers, so everyone else is unrestrained. With most impacts being front end, it would be logical to have the seats RF, and I've never been on a bus with enough power to throw you back in your seat, so that isn't a concern. Just a thought, what do you think?
 
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Melizerd

New member
Don't take my word for it but I remember seeing a study about how a bus is built, compartmentalized that makes it safer to not be in a seat. Most busses I've been on in the US (school ones) don't have seat belts anywhere but the driver either.

I don't know how big the study thing was or what it said exactly I just remember hearing/seeing that somewhere. I often wonder if it's really true though.
 

Namegirl

Senior Community Member
We learned in my Tech class that a full-length school bus is the safest vehicle you can ride in--even without seatbelts.

The seats are designed so that in a crash you hit the seat in front of you (usually very padded) and then hit back into your own seat (this is called compartmentalization). The seats are usually close together to aid this.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
So anyways, with all this talk about RF and extended RF because it is so much safer, I got to thinking, shouldn't school bus seats be RF? Up here in Saskatchewan, the only seat with a seat belt on the bus is the drivers, so everyone else is unrestrained. With most impacts being front end, it would be logical to have the seats RF, and I've never been on a bus with enough power to throw you back in your seat, so that isn't a concern. Just a thought, what do you think?


Hmmm...they probably should be, come to think of it. It's a quandry, because lapbelts turned out to be more dangerous than no belts (they cause the kids to jackknife and their heads hit the seat in front, rather than their whole bodies slamming into that seatback and spreading forces evenly to prevent injury), and lap/shoulderbelts are 'too expensive' for the number of lives they would save (maybe one or two a year, and there'd have to be only two kids per seat, rather than three, so you'd need tons more buses per district)...

So, yes, buses are safe without belt, yes, they would be safer with shoulderbelts, and yes, that makes it too expensive and it's gonna take decades till our great grandchildren are in shoulderbelts.

RF would probably save a few injuries a year, but imagine the cries of, 'but now the busdriver can't see my kids as easily!' (and maybe carsickness...they tried to put airplane seats all RF, and people puked to high heaven, so that didn't fly, so to speak).
 

Melizerd

New member
(and maybe carsickness...they tried to put airplane seats all RF, and people puked to high heaven, so that didn't fly, so to speak).

lol That amuses me. I'm glad that all plane seats aren't backwards but South West does have some planes where there are a few backwards facing seats. I avoid those
 

swags

New member
DH and I both work in EMS and often stop at accidents if there is not an emergency vehicle on scene or there are multiple vehicles involved and more resources are needed. Last month we were on our way to the store when we pulled up on everyones worst nightmare, a school bus accident. We stopped and both jumped out, it was a full sized bus with two 5th grade classes on it on their way to a field trip. The bus had t'ed a small pickup. The driver of the pickup was killed instantly, we were expecting the worst when we got onto the bus. The only injurys were to the bus driver, a sore shoulder and hips from her seat belt and one child with a bloody nose. We along with everyone else on scene were amazed at the lack of injuries to the children given the seriousness of the accident.
 

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