The School Bus Seat Belt Debate Rages On

Well, apparently, Congress is once again considering whether or not to adopt a school bus seat belt, proposal drafted by the Department of Transportation , National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This proposal is a result of a 2002 report on improving school bus safety. The proposed regulation will cover brand new school buses weighing 10,000 lbs. or less, and would require these buses to have "lap/shoulder" belts, and that seats be raised from 20 to 23 inches. For larger buses, that are actually responsible for carrying the bulk of our children, NHTSA recommends that each state and local jurisdiction make the choice of whether or not to install this safety gear for our children. States such as New Jersey, California, Florida, and New York -- the first to do so, have all drafted legislation requiring seat belts on all school buses. The NHTSA also proposes that seat heights be raised from 20 to 24 inches in all new school buses.

I applaude the continuing effort to place seat belts on school buses. It only makes sense, and would erase the contridiction our government imposes on highway and traffic safety. However, why is it so difficult for us to make the decision to keep our children safe while riding school buses? We have child carrier regulations, why not have regulations for the main mode of transportation for over half of our children? Why is it that we can spend millions of dollars on developing gold toilets, yet we cannot push for the development of child restraints on all school buses?

In conducting its study in 2002, NHTSA only inacted frontal collision tests. It did not, and still has not, conducted studies on side impacts and rollovers. Hopefully, with intense pressure from the public, these studies will be conducted in the near future.

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