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PHW
Top Member
USA
1345 Posts |
 Posted - 02/03/2005 : 07:00:36 AM
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ELLSWORTH — A bill before the Legislature (LD80) would make Maine’s seat belt law even stricter, allowing law enforcement to pull over vehicles whose passengers are not belted.
But what about the safety of children riding beltless on school buses? Why hasn’t the government enacted a mandatory seat belt law for school buses?
The short answer: Large school buses are the safest vehicles on the road.
School bus crash data show that a federal requirement for belts on buses would provide little, if any, added protection in a crash, according to information provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Full story with statistics @ http://www.ellsworthamerican.com/archive/2005/02-03-05/ea_news1_02-03-05.html
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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2005 : 08:55:35 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by PHW
... School bus crash data show that a federal requirement for belts on buses would provide little, if any, added protection in a crash, according to information provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
A little balance here would be nice:
''It should be noted that the results and recommendations of this report have at times been either misinterpreted or misstated. This study did not conclude that seat belts do more harm than good and therefore should not be installed on buses. On the contrary, the committee concluded that belts would do more good than harm, but the cost-benefit analysis precluded making a recommendation for universal installation.'' --''Seat Belts on School Buses, A Review of Issues and Research,'' adapted from a paper prepared for the November 2002 National Association for Pupil Transportation's (NAPT) Nov. 2002 Annual Conference and trade show in Greensboro, N.C..
Again From the story: "Children are kept safe through “compartmentalization,” which means seats are well padded with high backs, Boatman said. Material used to pad the seats is shock-absorbent."
Unfortunately, and not mentioned, is that compartmentalization does not work for children under fifty pounds. The NHTSA warned about that risk also.
Also, side impact crashs and rollovers significantly reduces the compartmentalization safety feature:
"The NHTSA reports that in the last 10 years, 58 percent of school bus occupant fatalities have occurred in side impact and rollover crashes and only 39 percent of the school bus crashes are frontal impacts."
In any case, I have no issue driving a school bus equipped with or without seat-restraints. Just don't crash the bus with kids weighing less than 50 pounds on board, and do not allow any child to become a projectile in a crash. These two kinds of events have become the lawyers best friends when seeking large commissions from bus crashes when the bus was not equipped with seat-restraints. (jk)
Click Here to find out The #1 reason school bus drivers quit
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Edited by - JK on 02/03/2005 09:35:20 AM |
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Even Without Seat Belts, School Bus Still Seen as
