Seatbelts on School Buses: a Necessity or a Daily Threat to Our Students?

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Recommended: Introduction to parent involvement

In the late 1920’s, school buses and larger industrial vehicles became a popular source of transportation that started from Ford dealership owner, A.L. Luce. Luce had plans to extend the school bus frame (from a Model T) to accompany more students per one bus. As school buses and city buses became more common throughout America’s cities for daily transportation, safety regulations and precautions were put in place. Safety features, including flashing caution lights, visors outside of the vehicle, and motorized stop signs and stop arms were all installed within the next 80 years to make the journey to and from school safer. Although many of these precautions were taken, many citizens believe that not enough action was taken to promote safety on school buses. Because a variety of school bus companies do not have a stance on whether seatbelts should be installed or not, the safety concerns mainly impact parents and school leaders. A good solution for many of those concerned would be the installation of seatbelts on every school bus within the United States, but the reality of seatbelts being on buses is quite the opposite of what people believe. Seatbelts are not the justification to these safety issues concerning school corporations and parents nationwide, as the seatbelts are a costly and dangerous factor.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) stated a plea for consideration of the installment of three-point seatbelts (three points of securement for a student) or two-point seatbelts on the assembly line (Gray). NASDPTS stated, “We believe this decision should be based on state or local need, but we also believe lap/shoulder belts… should be...

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...ts at the bus stop with their child on a daily basis.

Works Cited

Gray, Ryan. “NASDPTS Publishes Supporting 3-point Seatbelts on School Buses.”
Safe at the Stop Blog. School Transportation News, 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 02 Apr.
2014.
Johnson, Alex. “Why Your Child’s School Bus Has No Seat Belts.” Msnbc.com. N.p., 29
Dec. 2010. Web. 03 March 2014.
"NHTSA Unveils School Bus Promotional Posters." - News. N.p., Oct. 2011. Web. 27
April 2014.
“School Bus Seatbelts Are Not The Issue.” Toronto Star (Canada). 29 Oct. 2013.
Newspaper Source. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
“Seatbelt Plea Pay to Keep Safe on Buses.” Advertiser, The (Adelaide). Newspaper
Source. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Spehler, Dan. “Paying for Seatbelts on School Buses: How much will it cost?” Fox 59
News. Fox59.com. N.p., 3 Feb. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

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