School Bus Safety Concerns
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- Created on Friday, 19 February 2016 15:17
- Written by Alex Pinkham
Vermont - School buses are the one place where kids cannot wear a seat belt. This has been connected to the thought that buckling up would put a passenger at risk then if they are not buckled in. This idea is starting to make parents and lawmakers more nervous.
"Little fender benders can be a big deal if you don't wear a seatbelt so I don't know way you wouldn't just buckle them in or at least attempt to on a bus," says Danica Rolfe is a mother of three students.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration school buses are the safest way to get kids to and from school. The 2008 NHTSA study found 1% of student fatalities were on a school bus heading to or from school. The study shows the bigest group of deaths are when teenagers are driving themselves and or others from school. This comes out to around 58% of the fatalities.
The NHTSA says that school buses are built to be as safe as possible and have very strict laws surrounding how to operate them. Drivers have to go through a rigorous screening process to get the job. This includes security and medical training. They will also have to take part in a pre-employment and random drug and alcohol tests.
The concern for bus drivers is what do they do if a child panics during an incident and has a difficult time getting out of their seatbelt.
"If there's an emergency I don't know how you would get all the students off because they are all going to be seat belted in... and I just I think it's kind of a scary thing actually," says Darlene Jewell, Butler's Bus Service Manager.
"I transport three, four, five and six year olds [who] would have a hard time getting themselves unbuckled and out of a bus," says Denise Briggs, who is the Transportation Coordinator at the Danville School.
"Most people would want to know number one... what's the reason you want to do it, number two... what's the cost factor... number three... who's gonna supervise it... and so those are all issues that really have to be addressed," says Senator Dick Mazza of Grand Isle.
Currently there are only six states that require buses to have seat belts. Those states are California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.