Do you think there should be seatbelts on school buses??  

There needs to be seatbelts on all school buses. When my daughter was going to preK they had seatbelts. But now that she is on kindergarden they don't have them on the buses. It would help a great bit if they had them on all buses. You never know what might happen.

I think it is very important to have the seatbelt concept in school buses also. Even though drivers are conscious about their driving, one does not know what happens so I vote for it, government should bring the law and punish the school management if they do not implement it.

i totally agree with you. i think that it would be nice to equip the buses with seatbelts. for the safety of the children. you never know what may happen.

School buses are statistically the safest form of transportation. They are 8 times safer than passenger vehicles. Crash forces are distributed throughout the vehicle differently meaning crash forces experienced by occupants are different while on a bus. There are federal laws which guide school bus construction. School buses use "Compartmentalization" dynamics to keep the occupants safe. This is accomplished with narrow seat spacing with very tall energy absorbent high back seats. Lap belts only would increase the potential for serious injury in most crashes. Safety belts are required on small buses and infants, toddlers are still required to be in a car seat.

I think the first thing they should do is to limit the number of children in the bus. I think they should give more space to the children and really check on the buses if they did against the law or not. Seatbelts should also be included in every buses. When i was still in primary school, the school bus i sat has a limit of 24 person per bus but the bus driver allowed more than 30 students in the bus just to have more income. I think the government should be strict for this.

Hi There,
I do not think that it a money issue that there are no seat belts on school buses. The driver of the school bus has a seatbelt and is required by law to wear it. I think it has to do with fire safety. Could you imagine being a bus driver and have an accident that causes a fire or just a fire for some reason and you being the only adult trying to unbuckle 30+ children It would be impossible. The seats are designed (the high back seat) for protection of the children. The only thing with the higher seats is it looks to me like it would hinder the drivers vision of the children themselves (not vision of the road) but I guess weighd out their safety is more important than if they are sneaking and doing something they shouldn't be.

Our school,being a small school, that operates on a skeleton budget does still have 2 of the older buses on the road (the lower back seats) and I am assuming that there is some law that allows them to still drive these. Maybe any new buses purchased has to be the safety seats.

Buses are designed different then cars therefor the seats are designed different. In a car we depend on the seatbelt to keep us from accelerating through the windshield the idea behind school bus seats it compartmentilization. In a bus the seats are padded and sit upright and are much closer together. so the idea is that if there is an accident the child will stay relatively in place due to the seat in from of them. the national highway traffic safety has said that lap belts would do more harm to the little bodies then this thought of compartmentilization. the buses ride higher then most vehicles which distrbutes the crash and most children do not get hurt unless the buss tips over. in which case personally i think that all children on buses should have seat belts! there are schools in new jersey that are already putting them in the newer buses. Still here in north carolina I havent seen any imporovments on the situation but did hear that it would cost around 670 million dollars to put belts in all buses in the united states.

Yes I do! Seatbelts are on the buses here for preschools. But the minute they hit kindergarten no belts. And it is terribly scary to send her off to school with these accidents all over the news. I'd pay the tax increase for my kids safety.

I actually agree completely with your discussion. I think that all school buses should infact be equiped with seatbelts because we are trusting the school completely with keeping our children safe and providing a clean secure work environment. Everyday a parent will have to worry about how safe a childs bus ride to school will be, especially when during winter when the roads are slick and dangerous. I think buses should infact have seatbelts!

-Metalhead

Yes I do think they need seat belts. Personally I don't know why there arn't any seat belts. If your driving in a car and your child isn't buckled up then you get a ticket. i don't know why they think buses are safer. If it is about money thats stupid. Our children saftey is much more important then any amount of money.