by Elvis Kovacic

Created on: October 19, 2009   Last Updated: October 20, 2009

No Way! How long will it take at each bust stop to wait for the new passenger to get on and put their belt on? Or, waiting for the dorky school kid to take his sweet time getting his belt off and putting his backpack on and getting off the bus.

There is not much by way of safety that is gained by installing seat belts on a bus. I am all for the safety of passengers but really, buses are much bigger than cars, they travel at a relatively slow speed. When was the last time you were in the bus and felt scared and missed the fact the bus had no safety belt?

And what about the cost to taxpayers from installing these belts on all the buses, not to mention the on-going maintenance issues associated with them. What next? should trains have seat belts installed as well?

Look, its not a bad idea but if we die on a bus because there are no seat belts then in all seriousness we will probably suffer the same fate if the bus has seat belts as it would have to be a pretty serious crash for any injury to occur.

Whilst one lost life is priceless, I do feel that the overall benefit is neglible and does not outweigh the overall cost of having safety belts on buses. In fact, we might need to consider the impact the installation of belts on buses may have on safety on passengers. They may present actual harm or safety issues if they are not maintained in proper working order. Will the belts be adjustable to suit all shapes and sizes? It is not as easy as one would think initially would be the case.

Have all other alternatives been considered before someone goes ahead and decides to install seat belts on buses? Some suggestions would be to consider alternatives that further limit the speed buses can travel, the increased use of bus only lanes, restricting the total number of passengers allowed on buses.

With installation of seat belts comes the need to build more buses, further adding to the cost of taxpayers. There will be increased traffic congestion, the increased incidence of accidents caused by having buses on our roads, increased wear and tear of roads and pollution and noise consideration. Are we not moving to a world of less damaging emissions, are we no longer concerned about the damage caused by cars to our ozone layer?

Surely there are better solutions to saftey of passengers than the obvious one-dimensional solution of installing seat belts. Surely, we can be a bit more creative than that.

My final arguement is a personal one. I simply would rather stand than be strapped into a seat next to a smelly stranger at the end of a hot summers working day.

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