  |
|
SEAT BELT DEBATE REKINDLED
By Kim Souza The question has been debated for more than 10 years by everyone from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to local school boards. Statistically, the school bus is one of the safest forms of transportation in the United States, and fatal crashes involving bus passengers are rare events. Comparing the number of fatalities of school-age children during normal school transportation hours, the U.S. Department of Transportation states school buses are 70 times safer than passenger cars, light trucks and vans. According to the School Bus Information Council, buses are equipped with more safety devices than other vehicles. The size of the school bus gives it an important advantage in all but the most catastrophic circumstances. “The only buses we have which are equipped with belts are the small buses which transport our special education students. Our regular buses are not equipped with lap belts, and I don’t know of a single district who has buses with lap restraints,” said Jim Bynum, director of transportation for Greenwood Schools. The Department of Transportation sets the federal safety requirements that school buses must meet. Instead of lap belt restraints, the Department of Safety has compiled a list of eight different safety requirements, including special occupant protection, known as compartmentalization — strong, well-padded, well-anchored, high-backed, evenly spaced seats. “With compartmentalization, which occurs because of the distance between the front and back of the seats and the high-back padded seats, if a student is sitting face forward in the proper manner, the chance for injury is very small upon impact,” said Bynum. In the event of a bus accident, compartmentalization should provide a soft cocoon effect for the occupants. Although lap restraints could prevent partial ejections, they could hinder speedy exits in case of fire. The logistics of seeing that all children buckle up correctly and stay buckled up for the entire trip would be great, said Randy Bridges, director of student services for Fort Smith Public Schools. “The two types of accidents which pose the most threat to bus passengers are collisions with trains and semi-tractor trailers and those are very rare,” said Bridges. “Most of bus fatalities occur when students are struck either loading or unloading. The number of students killed in vehicle accidents like the Mountainburg tragedy are extremely rare, but you hate to use statistics and numbers when you are talking about a child’s life. “In most bus accidents, lap belts aren’t necessary to preserve live, but if they would make a difference in saving just one life, there is valid argument,” said Bynum. In 1987, the National Transportation Safety Board completed detailed analyses of 43 serious accidents involving large school buses to evaluate the effectiveness of compartmentalization. These crashes included frontal and side impacts and a large number of rollover crashes. A safety board team of accident investigators reconstructed each crash, evaluated the motion of the occupants, and identified the causes of the injuries and fatalities. For each crash, an evaluation was made of whether the use of lap belts would have made a difference in the injury levels of the school bus occupants. The board drew these conclusions:
PLEASE CONSIDER HELPING US BY
BECOMING A MEMBER OF NCSBS If you like the information
this site brings you, |
|
