Why Don't School Buses Have Seat Belts?

How come children on school buses don't need to buckle up? I couldn't leave the birth center without a car seat for my infant. I struggle to get my 3 year old to leave her belt buckled. We stress safety...but when my 5 year old gets on the bus to go to school for the first time, he learns that he doesn't always need to buckle up. We're sending our children mixed signals. Mine in particular are confused. They actually unbuckle as soon as we pull into our neighborhood and say, "we don't have to wear our seat belts as soon as we pass the mailbox." And I'm left wondering where they got that impression and trying to get them back in their seats.

If seat belts truly save so many lives (and I believe they do), then it's time to apply the seat belt laws across the board. My kids spend more time on the school bus than in my car. Busses should be equipped with safety belts and children secured.

The anti-seat-belts-on-school-buses crowd says buses are safer than cars. They're big. They're yellow. They have better crash rates. Bus drivers are also supposed to focus on driving rather than making kids buckle up. Plus it'd be too expensive to put seat belts into buses. Ehem. Really? That's a lame argument. Just ask any parent who's lost a child.

The pro-seat-belts-on-school-buses crowd says those crash rates are misleading. Most serious crashes happen at night and on weekends, as well as during the months of July and August. School buses usually don't operate during those times and private vehicles do. Thus the numbers don't give a fair comparison. Dr. Arthur Yeager has made it his life's work to change the status quo. His argument to install school bus seatbelts is quite convincing. Compartmentalizing children in thickly padded high back seats does nothing to cushion kids from side impact and roll-over collisions. It only works if the kid stays in the compartment. Like they do when wearing a seat belt.

About 20 years ago, New Jersey mandated that all new school buses be equipped with seat belts. It turns out that having kids buckle up reduced behavior problems...and bus drivers spent more time focusing on the driving task and less time disciplining. I find the same thing is true when my kids aren't crawling over seats and kicking their siblings while I'm driving.

So, back to the main question. Why don't school buses have seat belts? Because we haven't banded together to make it happen. Consider visiting the National Coalition for School Bus Safety's website and joining their cause. That or drive your kids to school every day. Just take into consideration that one is easier to do than the other.