School Bus Safety

A new round of debate in the perennial dialogue about the use of seat belts on school buses is being ignited with the release of a new study in the November issue of Pediatrics. In this new study, data shows that 17,000 children a year are sent to the emergency room for injuries suffered on school buses. This number is significantly higher than previously thought. Crashes account for 42% of the injuries but one quarter of injuries occur when approaching, boarding or leaving the bus. Most injuries on the school bus are not life threatening and do not require hospitalization. These injuries reported in this study occur 21 per 100,000 rides or .00021%. Study authors hope that this information will encourage further dialogue and research into requiring seatbelts on school buses.

The issue of seat belts on school buses has been debated for many years. In a 2002 report to Congress the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommended against using lap-belts only in school buses due to concerns about abdominal injuries. Only five states mandate the use of seat belts in school buses.

Seatbelts have not been widely used on school buses due to concerns about the safety of the belts themselves, but also concerns about the structural integrity of the school bus as currently designed to mount belts, concerns about the cost of installing and maintaining seatbelts and the concern of student misbehavior with seatbelts.

Information about the NHTSA position and the recent study found in Pediatrics can be found at the following sites:
www.nhtsa.gov and http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/11/06/school.bus.injuries.ap/index.html