School bus safety discussion/ They told me there's enough chaperones

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carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

I agree with BW 100% and I'm going to go out on a limb here -- the OP wrote that her daughter complains about not having friends. I am going to suggest that not allowing the child to participate with the rest of the class and displaying high levels of anxiety about normal activities may not be doing the child any favors.
 

CaseyRN

New member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

I agree with Chickabiddy. You have to relax and release just a tiny bit.


Let her ride the bus.
 

Mommy0608

New member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

Perhaps some stats would help to reassure you and put school bus safety in perspective? I jotted down some school bus safety stats during a lecture on school bus safety at a CEU conference for CPSTs a couple of weeks ago. Let me find my notes.

23.5 million children in the U.S. ride the school bus to and from school and to and from school related activities daily on approx. 440,000 school buses. There were 7 total child fatalities on board these school buses in the U.S. over the course of one year (sorry, my notes don't say which year) and 4 bus driver fatalities. There were 800 child fatalities in passenger vehicles operated by parents/caregivers who were driving children to and from school only, not including any driving to and from school related activities, over the course of the same year. :( 800 kids > 7 kids + 4 bus drivers, although losing anyone to a crash is regrettable.

The other take away from the lecturer was to ideally avoid riding in the first few rows or in the last several rows closest to the back of the bus, to be farther away from possible frontal or rear impacts, but to again bear in mind that the school bus is statistically much safer than riding in a regular passenger vehicle overall and someone always has to ride in the front-most and rear-most rows on a full school bus anyway.

Does that help put things in perspective? :) I know stats like this did for me when DD1 started school and began riding the school bus, and this lecture helped reinforce the decision to let her ride the school bus instead of driving her to and from school daily. My only qualm now is that DD1 is assigned the seat right behind the school bus driver due to her food allergies, rather than a seat farther back on the bus.

Haha, I was going to type all this too, my notes from that conference happen to be sitting right here next to me. Of course, you beat me to it. ;)

To the OP, as hard as it might be, I'd let her go. If your DD was under 4 years old I wouldn't, but she's old enough and big enough for the full benefits of compartmentalization. I've always feared my DD's first bus ride, but after hearing this speaker I am much more confident in her safety on the bus (even though it's still a couple years away). :thumbsup:
 

HEVY

New member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

Hevy, your DD is substantially less safe on the bus using a seatbelt than not using a seatbelts.

In crash testing using seatbelts had poorer outcomes than not using seatbelts on school buses. Seatbelts are not designed to be a part of compartmentalization.

Ok, see that does NOT make me feel any better. Worse. Where do I get one of those harness things for the bus :whistle:

I also really want to go on the trip but it looks like she might be going without me. I expected this to happen at around 7, the earliest, not now :(
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

Unless there are special needs, school-age children on big yellow busses do not need to be belted or harnessed. Please read what Jeanum and others have posted.
 

BW1426

Well-known member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

Ok, see that does NOT make me feel any better. Worse. Where do I get one of those harness things for the bus :whistle:

I also really want to go on the trip but it looks like she might be going without me. I expected this to happen at around 7, the earliest, not now :(

Why doesn't that make you feel better :confused: Did you watch the video I linked?

Also, the harness isn't necessary. If you use the harness and they don't provide a buffer (no children in the seat behind her) she could be badly injured. Really, the school bus is very SAFE. Way safer than your (or anyone else's) vehicle.

You need to think of school buses as entirely different from cars. You just have to. They're very different.
 

Mommy0608

New member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

LOL. I was hoping you or Bookmama knew what year those stats were from. I didn't note the year and/or the lecturer didn't say what year they're from.

In my notes from the lecture, I have "per year."
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

Thanks for confirming that. I noted the same thing and then wondered looking at my notes if I neglected to jot down a year. Not that it matters all that much, the stats probably don't change drastically from year to year, but I like details. :)
 

Mommy0608

New member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

Why doesn't that make you feel better :confused: Did you watch the video I linked?

Also, the harness isn't necessary. If you use the harness and they don't provide a buffer (no children in the seat behind her) she could be badly injured. Really, the school bus is very SAFE. Way safer than your (or anyone else's) vehicle.

You need to think of school buses as entirely different from cars. You just have to. They're very different.

:yeahthat:

I was at the same conference with Jean, Brie and Andrea. I used to be so nervous about DD having to ride the bus to school eventually, but hearing this lecture and seeing the videos really eased my mind. School buses are completely different than family vehicles.

In the lecture, the speaker told us specifically the section of video showing the crash test of unrestrained children (I believe it's the first section in the video Brie linked) would look horrifying. Yes, at first glance, it doesn't look good (and I could hear the gasps in the crowd), but really if you watch the crash test dummy bodies and understand what is happening, you can see that their backs, necks and heads stay aligned much more than they do with seatbelts. Their whole body moves vertically into the padded seat in front, then backward into the padding behind the back. This spreads the crash forces among their whole upper body (whole body contacting seat in front, not just the head, etc.) Also, it protects the child from spinal injuries because the head is not thrust forward. Does this make sense? If I'm not explaining this well, maybe someone else can chime in.
 

HEVY

New member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

I understand whats being said and shown, but it's really scary, to make a conscious decision to not use a seat belt. I mean do I really say "Oh BTW don't use a seatbelt" LOL. They will really think I'm crazy then :p
Most of the bus accidents I've seen in the news have involved the bus tipping, what happens then?

I know I'm being irrational, I can't prevent anything from happening in life. It's just thinking about it. :eek:
 

BW1426

Well-known member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

Most of the bus accidents I've seen in the news have involved the bus tipping, what happens then?

The kids don't magically stay in their seats without seatbelts. But still, those accidents are included in the statistics at whatever rate they occur. Seven deaths. Only seven. Yeah there's likely to be bumps and bruises, but I can deal with that.
 

Mommy0608

New member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

When you think about it, bus crashes are all over the news when they happen because it's rare (and of course involves children), but how often do we hear about these? Could you imagine what the news would be like if every car accident involving kids going to/from school was featured in the broadcast?! There would be lots of accidents in the news every single day.

It's kind of like train or airplane accidents... they are very, very rare so we hear about them all. Trains and airplanes are also safer than cars, but that's another topic.

Bus tipping is a serious incident, we all know that. Like you said, we can't prevent everything, and sometimes crashes like that happen. These crashes also happen in cars (roll overs, etc.) and there's nothing we can do to prevent it. All we can do is educate ourselves and look closely at the statistics. I understand that it is hard to accept that buses really are safer with compartmentalization, because it's simply not what we're accustomed to.
 

BW1426

Well-known member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

When you think about it, bus crashes are all over the news when they happen because it's rare (and of course involves children), but how often do we hear about these? Could you imagine what the news would be like if every car accident involving kids going to/from school was featured in the broadcast?! There would be lots of accidents in the news every single day.

It's kind of like train or airplane accidents... they are very, very rare so we hear about them all. Trains and airplanes are also safer than cars, but that's another topic.

Bus tipping is a serious incident, we all know that. Like you said, we can't prevent everything, and sometimes crashes like that happen. These crashes also happen in cars (roll overs, etc.) and there's nothing we can do to prevent it. All we can do is educate ourselves and look closely at the statistics. I understand that it is hard to accept that buses really are safer with compartmentalization, because it's simply not what we're accustomed to.

Really well put, Jenny :)
 

Evolily

New member
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

UGH.

I had to watch the video of the child in the lap belt. Chris rides in a lap belt to and from school on the bus :( .
 

jen_nah

CPST Instructor
Re: They told me there's enough chaperones

Ok, see that does NOT make me feel any better. Worse. Where do I get one of those harness things for the bus :whistle:

I also really want to go on the trip but it looks like she might be going without me. I expected this to happen at around 7, the earliest, not now :(

Oh you would HATE living in my school district then. All children participating in a school activity are required to ride the bus to & from the field trip. Plus no other adult besides authorized ISD employees are allowed to ride on the bus. This means all of us parents that are chaperoning must ride in our own vehicles to & from the field trip.
 

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