The state legislature is expected to take up this issue in 2010 session which begins on Feb. 3rd
The proposal came after a 16-year-old boy from Rocky Hill died in a bus crash on Jan. 9 on Interstate 84 in Hartford. A school bus heading to a robotics competition in Farmington collided with a car and plummeted down an embankment. A dozen other children were injured.
Amanda Falcone of the Hartford Courant wrote an extensive story on this issue earlier this week.
Across the country, school bus accidents can be the impetus for attempts to get the buses equipped with seat belts. The debates take fairly predictable forms, with lawmakers, special interest groups and parents weighing costs against benefits. Today, only six states have any kind of school bus seat-belt requirements on their books; some have passed laws, but haven't funded them. A seventh state, Alabama, is in the last year of a pilot study.
The issue is complicated by the apparent lack of statistics showing that seat belts on buses have saved lives. They save lives in cars, and the reasoning goes that they must on buses, as well. But with no data to help lawmakers make a decision, the issue remains controversial, often, but not always, resurfacing when it appears a restraint might have saved a life.According to the article, 23 bills requiring seat belts have been put before the state legislature but they have never made it out of committee. This time however, Rep. Antonio Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, has vowed to ensure that his bill receives proper vetting. Now, with the results of Quinnipiac poll, he will have added public support for this cause.
One of the reasons that the bill has met resistance is the strong lobbying by the bus companies, according to Dr. Alan Ross, President of the National Coalition for School Bus Safety,
In a story by Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network, Dr. Ross said:
"Well the industry will tell you that the seat backs are padded, and they call that compartmentalization. The padding is not a bad thing, but it's not enough. When a bus goes down an embankment, the padding on the back of the seat is not gonna hold a child in place and prevent them from becoming a projectile or a missile. You need a shoulder harness belt."
Currently, federal law requires seat belts on small buses. Ross says adding seat belts to older buses can cost thousands of dollars:
"Many, many buses out there would have to be retrofitted, and a retrofit can cost as much as twenty or thirty thousand dollars. The reason for that is these buses are so flimsy in their construction, that the floors, the anchorages, the walls, all have to be reinforced and reengineered to support the safety belts."
In contrast, Dr. Ross says adding seat belts to new school buses can cost about $4,000.Over the years, I have used car seats of all shapes and sizes to drive my kids to and from school, but when they're on the school bus they're unharnessed and flailing around. While I'd like to see a seat belt law on buses, especially for long trips, I expect there will be push back due to the financial pressure it will put on bus companies and school systems. What do you think?
*Quinnipiac's poll of 1,594 registered voters was conducted between Jan. 14 and 19, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
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I lean in favor of seatbelts on buses, although I can't imagine the headache of enforcing their use. A seatbelt probably would have saved the young man's life. However, I wonder if the accident would have happened in the first place if a properly licensed driver had been driving the bus.
ReplyDeleteI voted yes because children are undisciplined today. They don't listen to authority let alone their parents so how can we expect them to behave and sit still on the school bus. Children should be kept safe from accidents and from themselves. So yes, to seat belts on school buses.
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