Use of Seat Belts on School Buses?

Use of Seat Belts on School Buses?

I know this question will differ person to person, state to state but it is something that I have thought about more than once. In our school district our buses have seat belts. In our New York State Law it requires any person under the age of 16 to wear a seat belt while riding in the back seat of a vehicle. Any person regardless of age is to wear a seat belt if they sit in the front seat. So why when our school buses are equipped with seat belts does New York State Law not make this a rule also?

When I was in school, school buses did not have seat belts. Our one bus driver would fly around the corner to get on our road and I remember holding on to the seat in front of me for dear life so I wouldn’t fall into the aisle. If you watch this very short video which is not graphic in nature, you will see why I think this is so important for the safety of our kids. You figure in the back seat of most vehicles you may have 2-3 children (more if you drive a van). Imagine a bus filled with children and possibly 2 to a seat. In the event of a crash without seat belts they are going to go flying all over the place. People have commented on my husband’s Facebook page that it could cause children to be trapped. Also that maybe instead of seat belts they should have bars like an amusement ride. I disagree because you have all sorts of sizes of children and even on an amusement park ride for older children you have to be a certain height.

Here is the video:

After seeing that video does it change your mind at all? It is an actual video of a bus accident as buses these days  have cameras on them to monitor the kids and bus driver’s activities. Also my husband is required to wear his seat belt; so why aren’t the kids? Some say it would be hard to enforce it with so many kids on the bus and only one bus driver; but if parents were to tell their kids to wear them or there will consequences,  I would think most kids would be able to follow rules.

These are my thoughts….what are yours? Feel free to leave a comment in my comment area below. I am interested to see what other parents think.