By Sladen West
Around 23.5 million children ride the bus to and from school everyday. While riding the bus is a rite of passage for many kids, parents are often left wondering how safe that big yellow bus really is. The majority of buses don’t have seat belts, after all, and parents have heard horror stories of children being killed in accidents. Despite the occasional stories that hit the news, the reality is school buses are probably the safest route of transportation to and from school for your children.
A Look at the Numbers
Accidents involving school buses are inevitable, and each year 17,000 children are treated for injuries involving school buses. However, when compared to other forms of transportation the amount and seriousness of injuries caused by buses is significantly lower. In fact, students are 50 times more likely to survive a trip to school if they take the bus than if they drive themselves or ride with friends.
On average, 6 children die in bus-related crashes each year, according to the National Conference of State Legislature. Compare that with the 2,000 children who are killed in car crashes yearly.
The federal government has 35 safety standards in place to ensure safe bus transportation, and states are free to pass additional standards as they see fit.
The Safety Belt Debate
While smaller school buses, those weighing less than 10,000 pounds, are required to have safety belts, large buses do not have a seat belt requirement. While some people advocate for seat belts to be installed in all buses, there’s a reason safety experts have left them out.
The seats in school buses are designed with compartments that are able to absorb the force in a crash. These compartments are created by making the seats higher, wider and thicker and covering the surface with padding. The seat is also able to bend forward when a child is thrown against it, and with the seats no more than two feet apart, the distance a child is able to move in a crash is limited. Some experts argue that additional padding along the sides of the bus is needed to protect a child being thrown from side to side.
On top of the protection already in place, the argument against installing seat belts is that they are only effective if they are used, and it would be incredibly difficult to enforce a seat belt rule on a bus that transports so many children. Add on to that the cost of installation and maintenance, adjusting belts to the size of each individual child, and the need for a chest harness for those 8 years old and under, and seat belts could cause more havoc than they are worth.
Passing Vehicles
Not all injuries and deaths associated with school buses involve a crash. In fact, 24 percent of injuries involve getting on or off the school bus. These children are either hit by the school bus itself or by a passing vehicle, even though it is illegal for a vehicle to pass a bus with its red light flashing. In order to combat these reckless motorists, some school districts have mounted cameras on buses to record drivers who fail to stop for a school bus.
Consequences for failing to stop for a bus vary from state to state. Often there is a hefty fee or defensive driving course requirement. Some states have started to suspend driver’s’ licenses for a year to cut back on this problem due to children being killed.
Sladen West is a freelance writer dedicated to helping others stay safe through general auto safety education and a good defensive driving course promotion.