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TESTIMONIESTestimony - Gary MurphyClick here to download this document to your own computer (PDF) March 1, 1999 State of Connecticut Dear Legislators; I am honored to be invited here to speak with you about seat belts on school buses and the potential for new legislation calling for their use - just like the law you enforce for passenger car restraints. Although this is the third state this year that I've been asked to speak with legislators, I still find myself getting nervous. My name is Gary Murphy and I'm the CEO of Busbelts Development Corporation, we were founded in 1995 with a team of engineers and business consultants. The question of how to best protect our children on school buses inspired our research and development. We market two and three-point seat belt restraints for school buses. I am not going to elaborate on our two and three-point restraint systems other than to mention that our systems have met or exceeded all federal motor vehicle safety standards in independent testing. Most people are familiar with the increase in safety from the use of seat belts. That fact is re-enforced by the seat belt law that you and your constituents voted into effect for all motor vehicle passengers on the roads here in CT. Naturally the children of CT didn't vote for a mandatory seat belt law and I highly doubt they would vote for seat belts. Because seat belts are something only mom and dad or grownups make children use. They don't have to wear them on their school buses and often that behavior carries over to when they get their own cars. The arguments against seatbelts on school buses defy logic. Our nations buses rely on compartmentalization, which and ONLY during a frontal or rear impact the seat backs absorb the crash forces of the body. Compartmentalization offers no protection or safety from a side or rollover accident. Unfortunately you can't buy a car today without belts and you can't operate one without using them either, so you can't try this theory out in practice, unless of course you're a student. The most popular argument is the cost of these restraints, which was also popular over 30 years ago when the auto industry claimed they weren't needed. However the cost of our three-point restraint system costs $1.88 per student per year, I haven't met a parent or a legislator that's told me that's simply too much to spend on our most precious resource. Another argument is the increase in egress times during the tragic event of a fire or submersion. What you may be unaware of is that a large bus sinks in less than 30 seconds, and the gas tanks have been regulated and encased to prevent rupture. In the Michigan STAR IT study a trained police diver could not escape the bus in the submersion tests because of the thousands of gallons of water that came in during those 30 seconds. The information you need to make your decision comes from what you and I do everyday. I could bombard you with study and test data but you know what the right thing to do is when you drive your child, or grand child to the corner store. You likely buckle them up. Would the CT legislature and 49 other states pass laws requiring belts and fining people for not using them if they had no value? And would you like to buy a car with a padded dashboard and flexible seat back instead of seat belts? I think you know the answers to these questions and I certainly hope that CT takes a stance to prevent injuries before they happen. Gary Murphy Busbelts Development Corporation
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