Should school buses be required to have seatbelts for children over a certain ag

1. 38

   ChristinSposted 11 years ago

   Should school buses be required to have seatbelts for children over a certain age?
   
   My son was in a bus crash and I can't help but believe that the children who were so badly injured may have been less hurt if seat belts were on the bus.  The argument against seat belts is it's easier to evacuate smaller children in an emergency without them.  My argument is when an irresponsible bus driver rear ends a semi with a bus full of 6th graders, it helps the situation if they aren't all tossed about like rag dolls.  I can see some of both sides, but as a whole I think seat belts would be the safer option.  What are your thoughts and why?

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2. 79

   pippapposted 11 years ago

   My thinking goes like this.  If seatbelts are supposed to save lives (and, are mandatory in most places) in a car, why does the same logic not apply to a (school) bus which is basically an elongated car?
   
   If a small child(ren) is entangled in the seat belt or the accident has caused the seat belt to malfunction in some way, a sharp knife kept in a secure location on the bus solves that issue in a hurry.
   
   I think having seat belts and enforcing their use also helps keep the child(ren) in their seat so there is less distraction for the driver.
   
   I vote "yes" to seat belts.

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3. 61

   Lisa HWposted 11 years ago

   On the one hand, I'm inclined to think there should be seat belts for kids over a certain age.  They do serve a purpose, for the most part.  Then again, I've been three serious car accidents.  One was when I was ten, and someone hit my father's car (full of family, including a baby), and the car spun around and came close to landing on its roof before miraculously bouncing back up.  (It was big, old, Buick.)  Nobody, including me (and I was a very small 10), my sister, my five-year-old brother, the baby cousin, and the three adults, was hurt.
   
   Second car accident:  I was sixteen.  No seatbelt.  Broken two legs and got a concussion but wasn't more seriously hurt.  Third accident:  I was twenty.  I had no seatbelt on.   The driver, my girlfriend, faithfully wore a seatbelt; and I suspect she may have died because of it.  She was a rail-thin, small, young woman; and it was said that "something in her spinal cord snapped".  I, on the other hand, did go into the windshield and end up with all kinds of injuries - but obviously, I lived.
   
   Twelve-year-old kids are still often pretty small.  There's a reason children under a certain age/weight must ride in car seats, and that reason is that the seat-belt can hold them in around their hip area, while shoulder straps (not always adequate, functioning/fastened properly) don't always hold the upper body in place.  As a result, injury can be worse than it might have otherwise been.  That's not true all the time, of course; but it's enough of a concern to make the seatbelt issue not quite as clear-cut as many people seem to think it is.
   
   So, while I lean toward thinking seat-belts in buses are a sensible and important thing, I can't say I'm 100% sure about even my own leanings.  With the accident that killed my 100-or-so-lb friend, I, too, was a 100-or-so-lb person.  I'm not sure she wouldn't have been better off being knocked out of her seat.

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4. 0

   mjkearnposted 11 years ago

   I think all vehicles should have appropriate restraints for all occupants, human and animals alike. Camera's should be compulsory on public service vehicles as well as commercial to monitor drivers.
   
   With children, these measures should be taken as far as possible to ensure their safety. Adults have the ability to choose children don't,
   MJ.

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