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5 year old dies in school bus accident....still no seatbelts Login/Join 
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I live in the next town over to Hinesville. It's a shame that a child had to die to save maybe a few thousand dollars per bus to add seat belts.
 
Posts: 2014 | Registered: April 09, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Certain states like Texas mandate seat belts in all buses produced after this year


https://www.texastribune.org/2...belts-under-new-law/


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Posts: 13190 | Location: Charlotte, NC | Registered: May 07, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
When you fall, I will be there to catch you -With love, the floor
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Would the seatbelts made a difference? Rolling into a ditch cause that much structural damage that they were unable to escape? Or did the smoke quickly overcome both?

Tough to tell without the AI investigation details.

Meanwhile, who watches to determine if they are belted in? Another bus monitor? when the one kid who refuses to cooperate stops all progress, then what? Electronic devices to indicate when they are correctly strapped in?

Sounds like it will actually prove nothing short of a bus redesign.


Richard Scalzo
Epping, NH

http://www.bigeastakitarescue.net
 
Posts: 5803 | Location: Epping, NH | Registered: October 16, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Speaking as a School Bus Driver with 15 years of experience in the safest state in the country. Seat belts are not the answer on a school bus. In Ohio we have lost one student inside of a bus since 1969. And that student would not have been saved by a seat belt. The seats are designed to be a safe zone. And provide cushion for the kids. I can not imagine trying to get 50 kids to put on a seat belt..


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Posts: 9071 | Location: Wooster,Ohio | Registered: May 11, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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We have had 2 buses catch fire in 5 years, thankfully only the driver was on them having made their drop at school, the drivers got out unharmed. Both times the bus was fully engulfed and the cabin full of smoke in less then 3 minutes, with 3 minutes being the avarage.

On a regular route bus around here we avarage 50+ students with some of them at compacity of 66 to 79 students (depending on bus configuration).

With the avarage bus evacuation being at of just over 1 minute (with everyone knowing that it is going to happen, and giving Institutions) I see seat belts as a risk, liability and extra cost for little or no return.

The avarage bus cost $90,000.00 they stay in service for 8 to 10 years. Our small county/district has over 200 buses. So at best if at out going replacement rate it would be 10 years to have all buses with seat belts, at an extra $8,000.00 to $12,000.00 each to the cost.

Yet, thank God we haven't had a fatality. Yet I'm afraid that with seat belts that would change if there was a fire or go off into water.

As it has been said, a school bus in my the safest form of transportation.


Also, some food for thought. The nation's two most deadliest school bus accidents happened in Kentucky. One went into the Big Sandy river, over half of the students died, with seat belts, it most likely would have been all. The other, the Carrollton bus crash, fire almost immediately breached the bus (it was gasoline) and once again half died. With seat belts I say it would have been 100% death toll.

Kentucky learned from those crashes, we have because of them 4 emergency windows, 2 roof hatches, a rear and side door (rear engine buses have a window) kickout front windshield and the service door has a release button. Also no gas powered school buses, only diesel. Plus extra reinforcement on the side.

Also, who is going to keep the kids in the seat belts? What is the procedure while driving one takes their seat belt off and gets up?

We don't have nearly enough drivers or attendence now (as a matter of fact I'm filling in for an attendence, which will make this a 14 hour day).

So here if the driver gets out of their seats, we have to turn the engine off, pump down the air breaks and the we can get out of the seat. In most of my county, there IS no where to get off the road, alot of the roads are single lane or 1 1/2 lane roads. Can you say dangerous!?!

Oh and a lot of them are 35 MPH and some 45 MPH. So just really think about that. Plus as it is now, I can write up a student for standing and nothing happens to them now.

ARman
 
Posts: 3146 | Registered: May 19, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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