TESTIMONIES

Many school administrators and drivers in the study sites reported positive effects of a belted bus program on student onboard bus conduct, i.e., improved student discipline and reduced driver distractions. Belts on buses did not lead to significant long-term vandalism and mischief involving the belts.

Student Discipline
Improved student conduct on the bus appears to be one of the major benefits of a belted school bus program. Students riding both belt equipped and non-equipped buses reported this effect.

Student conduct on belted buses varied among routes. On some routes, children were already so well behaved that the implementation of the belt program did not have a great impact. However, most bus drivers and some principals who were interviewed noted an overall improvement behavior on buses as a result of belt usage.

While riding on several bus runs one field investigator noted that students on belt-equipped buses were seated and not roaming the aisles or standing on the seats, as were students on the unequipped buses. In two other instances, the investigator could distinguish between the belt-equipped the unequipped buses lined up in front of the school by observing the behavior of the students on the buses.

Even in the district with the lowest reported belt usage rate, the drivers maintained that the belt program had a significant effect on behavior. Since these drivers report students to school officials for not wearing their safety belts when they are observed standing students are more likely to remain seated, if not buckle their belts. Drivers and students in all sites concurred that students did not put their hands or heads out of windows when riding belted buses.

The improvement in behavior on belt equipped buses contrasted with the behavior reported by drivers and students riding on buses not equipped with safety belts. Drivers reported students stand, are more likely to get into fights, and generally display more rowdy behavior. This finding was corroborated by self-reports of a group of junior high school students who rode a belt-equipped bus in the morning and an unequipped bus in the afternoon.

A few drivers with seniority (who typically have the privilege of driving the newest, I.e. belt might be equipped, buses) suggested that: belt impacts on bus conduct might be greatest on routes where less experienced drivers had not yet mastered other control techniques for assuring safe, orderly passenger behavior.

Driver Distraction
Based on observation and driver reports, bus drivers seemed less distracted by student noise and movement on the belt-equipped buses than drivers who drove buses without belts. While riding one of the non-belted buses, a field investigator observed the driver spoke to the students about their behavior 20 times in a 25-minute period. One group of drivers, who had driven unbelted buses the previous year but now drove belt-equipped buses, confirmed that with improved student discipline, they no longer needed to spend as much time handling misbehavior and could concentrate on a driving.

back to main Testimonies page

top of page