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NATIONAL COALITION OF SCHOOL BUS SAFETY NEWS UP TO DEC. 2003Seat Belts On School Buses Becomes Issue For More Than Parents By Pamela Loring Click here to download this document (PDF) It’s against the law to take an infant home from the hospital without a car seat, or let your child ride in a car without some kind of restraint. Yet every day, more than 74,000 Vermont schoolchildren take a ride to school and back on buses without seat belts. That gets Dorothy singleton angry. "I just think it’s ridiculous that you’re telling your children from the moment they’re born that they need to wear seat belts for safety, but just not on a school bus," she said. "It sets a bad precedent and sends conflicting messages… We’re sacrificing our kids because we’re too cheap to put seatbelts on buses." Until she heard that a "disciplinary" seat in the front of the bus was equipped with a seat belt, Singleton drove her daughter to and from kindergarten. Now, with the help of Calais Elementary Principal Patricia Halloran and the Calais school board, she said, all of that school’s buses are equipped with seat belts. Halloran said, "After Dorothy brought her concerns to our attention last year or the year before, I did a little investigation and found a state report regarding seat belts which said there was no need to install seat belts on buses, and that in most instances installation would be beneficial. The school board asked the bus company we had to install them and they did, but many were so old they were useless." This year, Calais as well as other towns in the Washington Central school district have a new bus company. "Laidlaw is a company that is new to this area," Halloran said. "Their buses come equipped with seat belts as well as other safety equipment, built to every specification for safety. Their drivers have been trained to monitor safety. We feel very good about this company and they are very consistent about assuring the buses are maintained. I feel we can count on our children being transported safely." The Laidlaw buses were built in 1998. Joe Cindoni, maintenance manager at Laidlaw in East Montpelier, said the buses serve schools in Middlesex, Berlin, Calais, East Montpelier, U-32, Montpelier and Worcester. Belts aren’t the only added safety feature. "It’s a company policy that we install on all our buses a crossing arm," Cindoni said. The crossing arm prevents children from walking in front of the bus and out of the view of the driver. Other safety precautions Laidlaw buses feature include air anti-lock brakes; extra emergency escape windows, doors and roof hatches; and extra padding on the seats for protection. "It’s a very safe bus. And there’s lots of training for drivers at Laidlaw," Cindoni said. Towns like Calais have taken measures to safeguard their children while riding the bus. But the U.S. government leaves it up to school districts, towns and states to decide for themselves. There is no law that requires all U.S. school buses to be fitted with seat belts. But the states of New York and New Jersey have passed laws that require seat belts on school buses. New Jersey is the only state in the country that requires passengers use the belts. This year, Representatives Bristol of Brattleboro and Alfano of Calais have introduced a bill which would require all newly purchased school buses to be equipped with seat belts, and also would require all school-bus operators to wear seat belts. Right now, the bill is sitting with the Transportation Committee, where a similar bill, introduced last year by Representative Bristol languished without a hearing. "I think the genesis of my interest was the concern of some of my constituents." Rep. Alfano said, "parents who realize that we require the use of seat belts in other vehicles. There is some difference of opinion as to whether it’s a good thing. "It seems odd that when they ride the school bus, kids are not required to use belts, which are not even available to them," she added. "Having kids loose in the bus should an accident occur could be dangerous." The arguments against seat belts Alfano cited were that students will use seat belts as a weapon; that belted, kids would not be able to get out; or that younger children wouldn’t be able to use them properly. "Absolutely anything could be used as a weapon. Kids moving about on school buses and the behavior of kids on buses can be a safety concern if they’re distracting the driver," Alfano commented. "Many parents complain about the difficulty of maintaining order on school buses. I suspect if the committee schedules a hearing, they will hear from a lot of people." In 1997, seat belt bills were introduced in 16 states. None were passed. The debate surrounding seat belts on school buses is huge and ongoing, with stealthy opponents and proponents. On one side stand organizations including the American Medical Association, National Paretn Teacher Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, who recommend the use of belts on buses. Some of the organizations who oppose belts, or at least contend that monies would be better spent on other safety measures, are the National Safety Council, National School Transportation Association, National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Most people would agree that seat belts save lives, so what is all the hubbub about? Dr. Allan Ross, president of the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, a large nonprofit coalition of parents and people fighting for school bus safety, said, "Unfortunately, the school bus industry is a very large and economically powerful industry that grosses about $12 billion annually. With that type of economic power, they’re able to have lobbyists in every capitol in the country as well as in Washington D.C. As a result, the big yellow school bus that’s an American icon has basically not changed in over 20 years – a sad fact given our technology today." Ross said that a school bus can be fitted with lap seats for about $1,200. On a $70,000 bus which will last 10 years, that equals the cost of about a penny a day. I don’t know too many parents who wouldn’t give a penny a day to safeguard their children. "The myth is thqt seat belts might be used as weapons by children. I hear that in legislative hearings all the time. But, we’ve found, in 235 towns which have had seat belts installed, less violence on the school bus, improved discipline and an easier time for the bus driver." According to the NHSTA, school buses are one of the safest ways to travel. According to their statistics, 11 children die each year, on average, in school bus crashes, compared with over 8,000 who die as passengers in all other types of motor vehicle accidents. But Ross said that state directors from the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services are not required to report their data and don’t always do so. "As we look at data for school bus injuries and accidents in this country, we find them grossly under-reported," Ross said. "The National Safety council reported 13,000 injuries per school year, and we feel that even that number is under-reported. Opponents of seat belts in school buses note that children are more often injured in school bus loading zones than as passengers within the bus. They contend that money would be better spent on safety measures other than safety belts. Seat belt opponents note the comparably low injury rates, maintaining that current standards of school-bus safety are sufficient. Structural integrity, large outside mirrors, emergency exits, warning lights, fuel system integrity, stop signal arm, are just a few of many federal requirements for buses. The school bus is painted the standard schoiol bus yellow to be highly visible. The weight, structure and design of the seats and seat backs provide added safety benefits. And comparmentalization, the term used to describe the closely spaced, strong, high backed and well padded bus seats, the primary method of passenger protection for decades, is often sited as suitable protection in case of an accident. But "compartmentalization doesn’t work," Ross said. "If a bus rolls over or a driver jams on his brakes, the kids don’t always go in a forward position. We have had film from cameras on buses rolling during accidents. We have actual pictures of children flying against ceilings of buses, and out of buses. In a school-bus accident in Flagstaff, ARIZ., in 1996, a football student went through the window and an honor student with an genius level IQ hurled through the air. The honor student is now brain student and the football player is paraplegic. Flagstaff now has seat belts on their buses" Ross said. "It’s a terrible thing for a community to put seat belts after a tragedy. Not to give our children these basic restraints is just wrong." As a result of the Flagstaff accident and others, the National Transportation Safety Administration is currently conducting a $1 million study on school bus safety, Ross said, but the results may not be available until 2002. Ross also said that 32 states currently are considering seat-belt legislation. "All European common market countries require restraints on their buses to transport children," Ross noted. "They don’t use school buses, they use motorcoaches, which are safer. Australia also requires restraints for any bus transporting children. The American school bus has almost become an icon of a third-world transportation system. It’s desperately behind the times." "It all comes down to money," Singleton said. "But the kids at school are always raising money for something, why can’t they raise money for seat belts? I think it’s sad that we have to put a price tag on our kids’ safety. It’s unconscionable. When Calais renegotiated their bus contract, it hardly made any dent at all. It was something like $10 a seat belt, and it was forever; you only have to buy them once."
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