Are school buses safe?

School districts throughout the country transport 23.5 million children to and from schools. Districts give high priority to transportation safety, and strictly adhere to government mandates and regulations regarding the operation of buses. Some, like HISD, have added state-of-the-art equipment to buses, such as digital video cameras and a global positioning system(GPS). Other school districts have added features to track and monitor buses for emergency evacuation purposes. School districts consider buses a relatively safe means of transporting children.

However, one piece of equipment is absent from most school buses in Texas. That equipment is the safety belt or seat restraint. There is no federal or state mandate for large buses over 10,000 lbs. to have safety belts of any kind. Only the smaller van-like school buses are required by the federal government to have lap/shoulder belts. The National Transportation Safety Board relies on a 1987 study of school bus crashes, which concluded that lap belts would not have made a difference for the majority of serious injuries sustained in school bus crashes. The study recommended that lap belts not be used because of the potential for rearward neck and head extensions upon impact. Instead, it issued guidelines for a concept called "compartmentalization" in school bus seating. This concept called for padded seat backs, stronger seat frames and crash barriers to be installed in large school buses. This would supposedly absorb the impact on children thrown forward in a crash. But many feel that the 1987 study was flawed because so few school buses had belts that the NTSB had limited data for determining the effectiveness of seat restraints.

In 2002 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which issues standards on school bus safety, conducted a series of laboratory tests with crash dummies on the effectiveness of three types of restraints for large school buses: compartmentalization, lap belts, and lap/shoulder restraints. In a report to Congress the NHTSA concluded the lap/shoulder belts were the most effective in preventing head and neck injuries, and keeping the crash dummies in the seats. Lap belts were also effective in restraint but would result in a high number of neck injuries. Compartmentalization tests showed a high number of head injuries due to the dummy being thrown over the seat in front. Despite these test results the NHTSA maintains that compartmentalization is still the recommended restraint for large school buses and has not issued any new standards.

The NHTSA does not prohibit states or school districts from using seat belts on their large buses. In fact, three states - New York, New Jersey and Florida - currently require two-point lap belts on large school buses. Last year, California mandated that all of its large school buses have three-point lap/shoulder restraint systems. When the Banner contacted the HISD transportation department, General Manager Philip Smith said that HISD small van buses do have belt restraints but the large buses use the compartmentalization system. He said that HISD follows the mandates and guidelines issued by the NHTSA. In response to a rollover accident which killed two students going to a soccer game, the Beaumont school board recently approved a measure mandating lap/shoulder seat belts for all its school buses. The students in the Beaumont ISD crash were ejected from the bus and crushed beneath it. The only other school district in Texas to mandate belt restraints is Austin.

There have been no bills in the Texas legislature mandating any kind of seat belt restraints on large school buses. One bill introduced in the Texas Senate would have allowed school boards to seek private funding for placing safety belts in school buses, but it was not passed. When asked about the issue, State Senator John Whitmire said he considers school bus safety to be very important and is willing to consider legislation mandating seat belts in school buses; however, he cannot commit to supporting any legislation without knowing the details.

In 2005, a bill was introduced in the U.S. Congress which would establish a safety standard requiring school buses of more than 10,000 pounds to be equipped with three-point lap/shoulder belts on all seats. The bill remains in a House committee. The school bus seat belt debate continues in many parts of the country. Opponents of seat belts cite the cost of seat belts, and problems teaching children how to use them. They say that because buses are much larger than cars and cannot be so easily damaged, most school bus accidents result in relatively minor injuries like cuts, bruises, and broken bones. Proponents of lap/shoulder restraints are currently making strong lobbying efforts to convince members of Congress, state legislators, and school boards to mandate such restraints for children's safety. They say unrestrained passengers can end up thrown outside their compartment, injured and confused, not knowing where the exit is. One group of proponents, the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, is compiling information on a website (www.ncsbs.org) to effectively argue for lap/shoulder restraints on all school buses. It will ultimately be up to parents to decide that their children are safe on school buses; or that children need more protection and make demands on officials for changes.

(Near Northwest Banner, November 2, 2006)