by Gerald Davis

Created on: April 17, 2008

I have been driving school buses for the last 10 years and there has always been debate as to whether or not school buses should be equipped with seat belts. There has not been a year gone by where legislation has been proposed in my state to have seat belts put on buses. Each year it has gone down to defeat.

Some would argue that it is for the safety of the children that seat belts be used on a bus. They say that it would prevent unnecessary deaths and injuries in accidents involving school buses. I would agree that there may be some occasions where this is true, and say that there are situations where that would not be true.

School buses are designed in every aspect for student safety in accidents. The padding on the seats are designed to cushion a blow from sudden stop accidents. The high back seats are designed to keep children in the seat area should an accident occur. The height and frame of the bus are designed to keep the major portion of a collision impact away from the students and to protect the large gas tank from impact to prevent fire. There are many escape areas to exit the bus from in various types of occurrences. The drivers are specially trained and hold special licenses and endorsements to provide the best drivers possible for safety. Everything about school buses is geared towards the safety of the students and practice and training are constants. There is not a safer vehicle on the road per capita. The problem is just not as big as the proponents make it out to be,

There are of course the cost factors. School buses are paid for by tax payer dollars. In the district I operate in, there are about 50 buses. Each bus costs around $200,000. Drivers earn anywhere from $12,000 to $30,000 a year based on how many routes they run. Fuel costs right now are over $4 a gallon and school buses get about 8 miles a gallon. Already we are in the millions. Adding seat belts to school buses would reduce the capacity of the school bus by 1/3. This would require us to buy another 17 buses, hire 17 drivers, and spend more on fuel and maintenance. This change right there is millions more.

One of the biggest concerns for drivers is the liability and responsibility. If there is an accident where a child gets injured because they did not wear their seat belt, who is responsible? A driver is alone on a bus with 65 students. They have to able to drive safely and maintain control of the students simultaneously. This is not an easy task. One of the proposals is to hire

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