School bus crash in ontario, boy dies. Seat belts in school busses?

Several years ago there was a study of school bus accidents and what could be done to protect students. One of the things the study found was that buses equipted with seat belts had more injuries due to students being hit by the belts than any other single injury. The other interesting thing that they found out was most school bus accidents by being hit broadside and the bus rolling over. School buses seldon roll over several times. They usually end up on the side or the roof. Either of these situtations would leave many children hanging from their seatbelts and once released would fall probably on their head, or they would sufficate from their weight on the belt squeezing the diaphram and prevent them from breathing. The school bus when it does roll over does so much slower than a car and the children are not thrown form the vehicle but rather are tumbled. With the padded high back seats the students suffer bruses and cuts not internal injuries. The study concluded that students were in greater danger having a seat belt on than they were by not having a seatbelt. This was a government study done by I beleive the Canadian Government and reviewed by the US National Transportation Safety Board. This is the same board that make safety rules for buses and school buses.

I was in a bus accident when I was a child. I remember them talking about wanting to enforce seat belt laws. I do believe part of the reason WHY they don't is actually for the children's safety. Yes, being restrained to their seat may help alleviate injury. But if all the kids are buckled in, it also makes it VERY DIFFICULT to evacuate them from a bus in an accident. YOu have one adult and a bunch of kids. Keeping them trapped in a bus can be just as dangerous, if not moreso.

I have never understood why in a car you have all kinds of safety rules for protecting children but in school buses they dont even have the basic safety belts. I think all school buses should have the maximum protecting for children at the very minimum seat belts.

so sad to got it.

im sorry to hear that this innocent 10 year old boy got killed in a car crash. more specifically a bus crash. i have always wondered why school buses don't have seat belts whereas cars have seat belts and it is required that you wear them. one time i asked my brother why school buses dont have seat belts and he said that it was safer that way. he said it is easier to get off the bus in case of an emergency that way. i dont know if i can believe that. i still think that buses should have seatbelts because it isnt hard to take off a seat belt and exit the bus. even a ten year old kid should be able to take off their seat belt and be on their way. The story is not so specific and it doesnt say if the ten-year-old boy was up from his seat or not. i would guess that he was up from his seat and the other children were still sitting. i think that is why the other kids were unharmed while that unlucky kid got major head injuries. i know it is hard to tell kids to sit down but if they dont want to die they better listen to the adults and sit down. if they get up, they can get seriously hurt like the 10-year-old kid.