Lap/Shoulder belts for Tour buses but not School Buses

I don't get how they can pass a law that says you have to have lap/shoulder belts for Tour buses for not for School Buses. I know compartmentalization helps in an accident for school buses but this just seems dumb to me as more children spend more time on a school bus then your average person would on a tour bus.

http://www.newsday.com/business/new-tour-buses-must-have-lap-shoulder-seat-belts-1.6469506

1mommy said:

I don't get how they can pass a law that says you have to have lap/shoulder belts for Tour buses for not for School Buses. I know compartmentalization helps in an accident for school buses but this just seems dumb to me as more children spend more time on a school bus then your average person would on a tour bus.

http://www.newsday.com/business/new-tour-buses-must-have-lap-shoulder-seat-belts-1.6469506

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Actually, compartmentalization as the primary means of protection for children on a school bus is very effective and logical. There are an average of 11 deaths per year of school bus passengers. (more children children die from being hit BY the bus than crashing on one actually).

In order to use seat belts for children, we have to think about proper fit, and that fit varies both by child and by age. Compartmentalization is pretty much a one size fits all deal (for school age children, not preschool). A lot of districts stagger their school starts so that the same bus can run for multiple schools.

In the school district I worked at this would mean the bus starts out picking up
*K-6 (having to identify which of the kids need boosters, adjusting the boosters to each kid, ensuring each kid is buckled -because lots of kids have a hard time buckling a booster- removing jackets and backpacks and snow gear -the wearing of which doesn't affect compartmentalization)

*an hour later put those boosters somewhere to pick up high school kids

* put them back in for the half day K's

* take them out for the ROP high school kids, put them back in to take the 1-6graders home

* take them out again to take high schoolers home

It would be chaos. It would be expensive, many millions of dollars to retrofit seat belts and the cost of a child restraint for every student who needs one, then training for personnel on proper use, then adding buses and drivers since schools will no longer be able to share.

Then you also have to look at proper use. A child in a seat belt on a bus is MORE likely to be hurt than if there were an unrestrained or improperly restrained kid behind them. The weight of the rear child will push into the seat ahead and increase the load on the belted child. A lone bus driver, or even a driver and 1 aide, cannot see every child at all times to make sure they don't unbuckle and schedules do not allow them time to 5 step test every child that rides to make sure they are properly restrained.

Compartmentalization isn't the only crash feature on a school bus either. the chassis and undercarriage of the bus is made to absorb crash forces.

Tour buses are way different. The seats aren't set up to provide compartmentalization, so a seat belt is the only option for any kind of restraint at all.

Dang, the only issue I thought I was the belt fit one. I know on me, the seat backs were above my head even in high school (and I'm the same height now), so getting a seat belt to fit me would have been hard. The tippy top of my head may have been above the seat back, but my ears aren't/weren't.

safeinthecar said:

It would be chaos. It would be expensive, many millions of dollars to retrofit seat belts and the cost of a child restraint for every student who needs one, then training for personnel on proper use, then adding buses and drivers since schools will no longer be able to share.

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All of the above, plus as there is only so much funding that can be had, in most school districts the end result would likely be that fewer children could be provided with transportation, and more deaths and serious injuries would occur in automobile collisions, students hit while crossing the roads, walk-home students hit by school buses.

Children riding a school bus are normally very safe getting on/off the buses, directly onto the sidewalk either in a bus drop off zone or at the sidewalk in front of the school in an urban area. It's the students who are walking home or being picked up in private cars that are most at risk.