An elementary student was killed and 23 other students were injured – including one with life-threatening injuries – after their school bus was hit by a minivan and overturned on the first day of school.
The accident occurred on state Route 41 in German Township, Ohio, on Tuesday morning, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said in a news release.
Do you know why?
Full shoulder belts are impractical in full sized school busses, and lap belts have proven to be as harmful as they are helpful. Smaller van-type busses are typically equipped with shoulder belts now, because they are smaller and occupants are more likely to be ejected from a seat in an impact.
Full size busses are designed to prevent this, and are quite safe. Seat belts have been used in full sized busses in the past, and they were found to be more likely to cause harm by either entrapping a passenger or causing direct damage to the hips, upper legs, lower spine, and abdominal organs. Seat belt entrapment has been considered as a possible factor in the deaths of passengers killed in busses that caught fire.
This is still very much a controversial topic. There are certainly instances where seatbelts may have prevented deaths and injuries, but by and large, school busses are one of the safest modes of transportation on the road in the United States. Numerous studies have been done on this subject. Almost any time a bus accident happens that gets significant coverage, people start demanding answers about “why didn’t that bus have any seatbelts?”, and the results are pretty much the same every time: because in the long run, they don’t improve anything. Everything else about a school bus is designed to protect the occupants.
I recommend really looking into this subject yourself. It seems counterintuitive, but when you see the data for yourself, it makes sense.
https://www.ntsb.gov/Advocacy/safety-topics/Pages/schoolbuses.aspx
NTSB seems to think seatbelts would be an upgrade to just having compartmentalization and provide children with better internal safety. Thanks for making me look into it!
Sounds more like a lot of effort went into fabricating excuses to not make that expense, excuses which are directly contradicted by the National Transportation Safety Board:
School buses use a unique technology called compartmentalization—a passive occupant protection system to protect children in crash. School bus seats are made with an energy-absorbing steel inner structure and high, padded seat backs, and are secured to the school bus floor. Students are protected within the seating compartment much like eggs in a carton. Through our crash investigations, we have found that, compartmentalization alone is not enough to prevent all injuries and that for some of the children involved, a seat belt could have lessened their injuries or even saved their lives.
As a result of our school bus crash investigations, we believe—and have recommended—that, when investing in new school buses, the purchased vehicles should provide children with the best protection available, which includes lap/shoulder seat belts.
