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Advocates have argued that mandating the use of seat belts on school buses would provide better protection for children. The opposition, on the other hand, has stressed several concerns surrounding this debate. One concern is that adding seat belts would interfere with the safety structures of compartmentalization such as changing the property of the seatbacks. Another concern would be the cost added to new buses. Further, it is believed by some; that children are unlikely to use the seat belts, and bus drivers repudiate the responsibility of enforcing the use of them. Consequently, taxpayers would be paying for unused seat belts. The concerns of the opposition may be legitimate. However, it is a known fact that using seat belts keep occupant's from being propelled out of their seats during a crash. Seat belts provide the best protection in moving vehicles; such as a school bus. Most importantly, seat belts help prevent or reduces head trauma injuries, injuries due to ejections, and even death.

Without a doubt, school buses have been evaluated as being the safest transportation on the road because of their visibility, large size, and weight. Nevertheless, during the early 70s The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) was called upon by Congress to improve school bus safety. NHTSA, channeling their efforts to occupant safety, considered seat restraints or seat belts. However, it was believed children would not be compliant in using such restraints (SafeGuard 2009, p.3). With this consideration, NHTSA pursued a means of protection that required little or no effort on the part of the occupants. The solution, known as compartmentalization, was implemented as a standard by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) in 1977, known as FMVSS 222.

The theory behind the FMVSS 222 standard is the provision of adequate protection by absorbing energy with little effort from the occupants. This was accomplished by decreasing the seat spacing and increasing the padding to the back of the seats, as well as, increasing the seat back height to twenty inches . However, in a ten year study during 1988 through 1997, the theory of compartmentalization only provides protection during low speed frontal or rear impact crashes involving small light weight vehicles. School bus accidents involving heavy trucks were not a factor during the ten year study. According to Elias (n.d), the ten year test confirmed that "115 fatalities occurred on large school buses,

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