by Suzanne Mathews

Created on: September 06, 2009   Last Updated: December 11, 2011

Advocates have argued that mandating the use of seat belts on school buses would provide the best protection for children. The opposition, on the other hand, has a different perspective 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 installation cost of adding seat belts on school 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 seat belts. 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 like a school bus. Most importantly, seat belts help prevent and/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). Considering these concerns, NHTSA pursued other 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

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