After news of the tragic school bus accident in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I wondered why school buses do not have seat belts.
The short answer is, adding seat belts does not make school buses definitively more safe. There is also the issue with cost. Around $800 million dollars would be required to outfit all buses with seat belts.
The main points on why school buses do not have seat belts:
- Closely spaced and cushioned seats are extremely shock absorbent and provide almost a protective envelope around the child.
- They are some of the largest vehicles on the road, and are typically not driven very fast.
- Each seat will accommodate 5 year old children on up to late teens, making seat belt sizes an issue.
- Depending on age, a seat that could accommodate 3 small kids would only allow room for 2 seat belts due to the range of ages riding the bus.
- In most cases, a short jar forward into a heavily padded seat back will have less injuries than a strong jerk at the waist followed by whiplash.
- Longer evacuation times in an accident involving a fire.
- The time involved in checking if students are properly buckled.
- Increased injury to improperly buckled students.
Overall there is little if any benefit to add seat belts in school buses. Transportation experts focus on the "egg carton" safety strategy, where all a student has to do is stay in their seat to keep them safe.
On average 6 students per year die from school bus accidents, while 1,000 die walking, biking, or being driven to school.
