Transit Board Recommends Against School Bus Seat Belts

The National Transportation Safety Board, after studying 43 school bus accidents, recommended Thursday against equipping school buses with passenger lap belts, saying they probably would not reduce the chances of serious injury or death.

The findings by the board are expected to fuel a debate over whether the estimated 22 million children transported daily by school buses should be protected by safety belts.

In recent years, about 150 school districts, the Denver district being among the largest, have equipped at least some of their buses with lap belts. New York state will require lap belts in all new buses purchased after next July.

Some Studies Oppose Belts

But there have been studies by various transportation safety groups, all of whom strongly advocate belt use in automobiles, that have argued against the use of lap belts in school buses. Some studies have indicated the belts might do more harm than good in at least severe frontal crashes.

The safety board study released Thursday said that despite the absence of lap belts in the 43 accidents examined, the children “were generally well protected” by the seat design and other safety features that have been required in school buses built since 1977.

Only 3.6% of the unrestrained passengers sustained more than moderate injuries and 90% sustained no injuries or only minor injuries, the board said. It said most of the 13 fatalities occurred in head-on collisions in which lap belts “probably would not have changed the number of deaths.”

The safety board findings immediately were criticized by advocates of belts in school buses.

“It’s just what I presumed they would say. This is nothing new,” said Carol Fast, founder of the National Coalition for Seat Belts on School Buses. She disputed the board’s analysis of the 43 accidents.