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Should school buses have and enforce seat belt use?

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No		24%	172 votes	Total: 730 votes
Yes		76%	558 votes	Total: 730 votes

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Yes

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sure it is enforced. This means, all school buses should be staffed by teachers (at least one) and a driver so the driver can drive and get assistance in maintaining the kids. This would of course mean a higher school budget and expenses (school tax... or your property tax would go up) which so many parents and people do not like. How can you call for more safety measures to be introduced if you are not willing to pay for them?

Second, we have to address the enforcement issues. How is the law going to be enforced? Are cops going to randomly pull over school buses and check every seat for every kid? And if they catch a kid with no seat belts on, who is fined? The bus driver and his company or simply the parent? As far as i am concerned, both the bus driver and the parents have an equal responsibility to ensure their kids wear the seat belt but there is only so much a bus driver and parents can do.

And more importantly, already many bus drivers encourage and tell their kids to wear seat belts before starting the engine. But as we can find throughout the country, many children refuse to listen, adhere by the driver's safety instructions or even to wear the seatbelt. So what can the driver do? In reality, the bus driver has simply no power other than to refuse to drive the bus - so the kids are essentially given a free reign of the bus... the reason why today we see school buses that are worse than monkeys in a zoo.

So essentially, my argument is that in theory enforcing seat belt use in school buses are a great idea but when it comes down to practical uses, it is extremely limiting and enforcement is going to be a problem. And if we go through with the law, then we must be ready to go the extra mile and spend the necessary money to make sure there are enough supervision in the buses so the drivers are free to do their job without endangering the children.

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Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Should school buses have and enforce seat belt use?

Yes

1 of 26
by Nancy Browne

As a youngster I rode the school bus for an hour each way everyday. As it was, our bus driver had rules, and most of the
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2 of 26
by Suzanne Mathews

Advocates have argued that mandating the use of seat belts on school buses would provide better protection for children.
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No

1 of 11
by Gerald Davis

I have been driving school buses for the last 10 years and there has always been debate as to whether or not school buses
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2 of 11
by Dawn Rohrer

As parents, we do everything in our power to make sure our children are safe. We make them wear helmets when riding their
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