An average of five people in the US die in school bus crashes each year.
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Right now only 6 states require students to be belted.
The NHTSA says the change is needed to help keep children safe and to be more consistent in messaging about seat belt safety.
West Ada School District spokesman Eric Exline said now, only special needs students are buckled in on district buses, and previous studies show that’s just fine.
Seat belts save lives whether in a passenger auto or school bus: that is the message from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Six states – California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ney York and Texas – already require seat belts on school buses.
-Connect with other agencies in an effort to overcome the financial barriers to making seat belts available to all students.
“I believe my daughter would still be here if she had on a seat belt”, Smith said. So NHTSA’s policy is that every child on every school bus should have a three-point seat belt. States and local school districts are better able to recognize and analyze school transportation risks particular to their areas and identify approaches to best manage and reduce those safety risks. The Council acknowledges that more school children are killed outside of the bus, during loading and unloading operations than on the bus, and that both passive and active restraint systems play a role in saving lives and preventing injuries on our roadways. Let us know your opinion in the comments section below.
Rosekind says the agency will use every tool at its disposal to get three-point seat belts in all of the nation’s school buses and will launch a series of steps including new research, funding and a nationwide mandate.
As a result, he added that NHTSA will improve its crash reporting data on school buses to focus on speed and distraction, as well as illegal passers.
And they are expensive, costing between $7,000 and $10,000 per bus.
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“Seat belts are icons of safety”.
