Why don't school buses have seat belts?

No federal law that exists mandating seat belts be installed in regular school buses. State and local authorities are allowed to install them if they wish, but with an estimated cost of around $1500 per bus to install seat belts, why would they? The law says it’s okay not to have them, so why fix what’s not broke?

Parents and other citizens are concerned. The National Parent Teacher Association has asked that seat belts be installed in every new school bus. Parents are not unreasonably worried. Every year over 41,000 lives are lost in automobile accidents. It is not irrational to assume that children would be better protected if buckled up on their way to school and home.

Seat belt advocates list several major reasons for requiring seat belts in school buses:

* Reduce the number of injuries and fatalities in collisions
* Reduce the number of non-collision injuries children sustain from sticking their arms and heads out of windows and falling out of their seats
* Improve behavior of children on buses by keeping children seated
* Reinforce the message to “Buckle Up”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires all new school buses to meet safety requirements above those of passenger cars. These include improved emergency exits, seating, fuel systems, and joint stability. The administration is responsible for establishing federal safety standards for all motor vehicles, and works with states on school bus safety programs. Nevertheless, the NHTSA does not currently require seat belts to be installed in school buses.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has concluded that seat belts would provide little, if any, added protection for children involved a school bus accident. In 1987, the NTSB concluded in a study that most fatal injuries caused by school bus collisions were due to seating positions in direct line of impact, and that seat belts would not have prevented most of these tragedies.

Because there is no compelling evidence that seat belts would provide added safety for school bus occupants, and because of the outstanding safety record of school buses, the NHTSA has concluded that there is insufficient evidence for requiring safety belts to be installed. Several additional factors determine the stance against mandating seat belts on school buses.