Installing Car Seat on a School Bus

So just a quick question. Now when installing a seat in a car you need less that 1 inch of wiggle room at the belt path. Nice and Secure. Now I'm going to start driving bus here soon, I have a Marathon (old Style) and a 30lbs 18 month old child who will be forward facing. The seats do NOT have seat belts or Latch anchors, they have provided me with a Lap belt that attached to the back of the seat. (They use this to secure kids to the seats). They have used it before to install child restraints and had no issues with it (the School board approves this method).

So my question is, seeing as the buses has their own safety built in be the containment of children IN the seats with out seat belts. If I put this seat in with their restraint system, and its still within the containment of the seats, IF it doesn't hold for whatever reason in a crash (worst case scenario), would the child STILL be protected? I'm looking at the child restraint as just that, something to keep the child from roaming the bus. She is too little for the 4pt restraint system they have for my daughter to use.

I'm post pictures once I'm on my phone...

This is the 4pts harness system they have for my daughter



This is the lap belt they Have for the child restraint. The green wide things you are seeing is padding that goes around the child before buckling them in



this is the underside the bus seat where I was told I could connect the top tether. You can also see that the belt is around the frame of the seat. (Its the Metal rail thing just under the white fabric.)

AGGHHH!

That sure doesn't look like a seat belt. It looks like some sort of a restraint "system." In addition, it's not exactly in new and/or pristine condition.

I'd be scared to install a CR using that as the seat belt. From your posts I'm not sure if you will be the driver, your child will be a passenger, or both. . . I'd be looking at any and all options for transportation and/or child care.

A quick search turned up this site with common bus restraint options:
http://www.easywaysafetyservices.com/index.html

If I am understanding how the lap belt bit works, there is no possible way to get a secure installation with any car seat either RF or FF because the lap belt has a single anchor point up that black bit of webbing that goes straight up the back of the seat, correct?

If that's the case, I would say that there is no safe or acceptable way to transport a child too small for the BESI restraint on that bus. How is she too small for it? The weight minimum on those is probably 20lbs. If she's forward-facing anyway I would go that route. I would also want to know, on an older bus that has belts or lower anchors, if the entire seat behind the restrained kid(s) such as your daughter needs to be unoccupied. Older seats aren't reinforced to take the forces of both a restrained child ON the seat plus a compartmentalized child BEHIND the seat.

That lap belt thing does not look safe. Can you get a star seat for the child? It is correct that the seat behind the child will need to be empty.

Thanks for the replies. So so you think the 30lbs 18 month old would be better in the 4 pt harness system then? It fits my 27lbs 3.5 year old nicely. Everything I'm reading says the 4pts are good for 20lbs +

ETA: Sorry its a 5pt restraint. LOL

This is the one that my bus will have http://www.easywaysafetyservices.com/gpage4.html

On that bus yes, the only safe way to restrain her would be to use that restraint. I'm not overly familiar with them but the specs look like it would fit her, so long as the waist portion could be tightened sufficiently (however it's supposed to be - I don't know).

Do ensure that the seat behind the kids in these restraints is unoccupied. The seat they're on isn't made to hold both them AND the kids will will slam into the back of it in a crash.

The lap belt attachment looks like a Cam Wrap, but not exactly. I'm wondering if it is maybe a really old behavioral restraint. SafetyBeltSafe (carseat.org) publishes a book similar to the LATCH manual specifically for bus restraints. Maybe you can contact them and show them your set up and get their opinion.