Why Are There No Seatbelts on Buses?

There are conflicting opinions about the necessity of seat belts on buses. There are those who believe buses should feature some sort of harness, and opposing individuals and organizations that defend the status quo. A few government bodies (in New York and New Jersey) already require that buses feature seat belts. There are particularly passionate arguments made concerning school buses, though tallies on the amount of fatalities as a result of school bus crashes seem inconsistent.

Explanation

The National Highway Transportation Administration (NHTSA) has said that bus commuting is the safest method of travel. Buses are taller and heavier than regular vehicles and because of this are generally slower-moving. The administration maintains that the statistical likelihood is that most bus crashes will occur with the front or rear being impacted, rather than the side. School buses are designed with the principle of compartmentalization in mind, aligning rows with padded seats and cushioned backs, so in the event of a crash, the padding softens the blow. Seat belts would have the passenger jerk forward at the waist, most likely resulting in neck or abdominal injuries.

Safety Concerns

If seat belts were required, the NHTSA believes compartmentalization would be lost in the exchange to stiffer seats the belts would require. Also, because the human body has been shown to naturally slide downward during a collision, they believe seat belts would likely cause internal injuries and complicate rescue efforts. In the event of a fire, seat belts would be an obstacle.

Economic Concerns

If a law were enacted, the options would be to put seat belts on buses with the existing design or construct new buses that meet regulations. A 1998 cost estimate of school bus conversion based on the number of inventoried buses at the time had the tally at $1,800 a bus and $800 million overall. Some have made the point that making these changes would result in a financial blow to bus providers, raising the cost for the commuters and essentially limiting bus service.

Liability

If a law were put into effect and someone did not comply and an accident did occur, the driver and operators of school buses would be held liable.

Compartmentalization Controversy

The National Coalition for School Bus Safety and the National Parent-Teacher Association also expressed concern that resulted in a two-year investigation. A 1999 NHTSA study tested the results of test crashes from all angles with dummies designed to examine damage to key areas on the human body. The report analyzed 31 crashes, but only nine of them were front end. The results on side crashes did not leave analysts confident about the safety factor. The compartmentalization principle was deemed ineffective when the tested school buses were not properly customized.

References

• Wisegeek Article
• Straight Dope from 1998

Resources

• National Coalition for School Bus Safety
• One Report on School Bus Fatalities
• Another Report on School Bus Fatalities