The Bus Fuss : Parents Pressure District to Study New Safety Restraints

Chris Hardeman says a little prayer every time one of her daughters gets on a school bus.

The Agoura Hills mother is concerned that the lack of seat belts on school buses could throw her daughter headfirst into a seat, a window or another student in the event of a crash. And she is not soothed by California Highway Patrol studies that show that taking a bus to school is 13 times safer than riding in any other type of vehicle.

“The statistics don’t mean anything to me, because all it takes is one accident in which it’s your child who gets hurt,” Hardeman said. “You just think that hopefully nothing will happen to them this time. You just say a little prayer and away they go.”

Frustrated by reports that seat belts may actually make riding buses more dangerous, Hardeman and like-minded parents in the Las Virgenes Unified School District have persuaded school administrators to consider becoming the first in California to try a controversial new kind of safety restraint.

Manufacturers say the pull-down safety bars--like restraints used on roller coasters--don’t have the same drawbacks as the traditional lap seat belts.

The so-called R-Bar can be quickly released in case of a fire, and is positioned at the upper-thigh level to minimize the chance of abdominal injuries during a collision, said Michael Dunn, vice president of marketing at Micho Industries in Lompoc.

No government agency has taken a position on whether buses would be made safer by the installation of R-Bars.

“There has been some concern that the bar may lock in place in some types of accident, and that the kids could get trapped,” said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), chairman of the House Transportation Committee. “And the major concern if there is a fire is to get young kids out of the bus as quickly as possible.”

Dunn said simulated crashes conducted by independent testing companies have shown that the bars would not trap anyone, and that the product, combined with extra padding on the backs of seats, could save lives.

But the bars have been installed on only a few buses nationwide, and have never been tested in a real crash, he said.

Prompted by petitions signed by several hundred parents, the Las Virgenes Unified School District’s board agreed to consider allowing Micho to install R-Bars on one bus, free of charge, for a three-month trial period. The decision is scheduled for Sept. 14, the day after classes begin.

After the trial period, the board could elect to have the bars installed on the other 37 buses contracted from Laidlaw Transit, at an estimated cost of about $70 per student, said district Assistant Supt. Don Zimring.

Most parents in the upscale northwest Los Angeles County district probably could afford the costs, but it remains to be seen how broad the support is for the installation of R-Bars.

Lobbying by parents helped bring laws to New York and New Jersey requiring that seat belts be installed on all school buses. But only about a dozen of New York’s 500 school districts have required children to use the seat belts, said Clifford Speck of the New York Department of Transportation’s Vehicle Safety Bureau.

And despite often emotional campaigns, many proposals to require school bus seat belts in California and elsewhere fizzled after officials reviewed a 1987 study by the National Transportation Safety Board, which found lap seat belts could cause more injuries than they prevent.

During the past 20 years, eight children in California were killed while riding school buses and 76 were seriously injured, according to the CHP. During that time, school buses traveled more than 5 billion miles.

“Obviously, one death on a school bus is one death too many,” said Ron Kinney, director of the California Department of Education’s School Transportation Unit. “But if you really want to improve safety, you’ll replace buses built before 1977, and then get into some good driver training programs.”

Federal regulations imposed in 1977 mandated that new buses be reinforced to withstand greater impacts and rollovers, and that they be equipped with large rearview mirrors, two emergency exits, top-quality hydraulic brakes and padded, fire-retardant seats.

About a third of the 22,000 school buses on the road in California in January were built before 1977. All Laidlaw buses were built after 1977, and those serving the Las Virgenes district were bought new last year, said Teresa Young, Laidlaw’s project manager for the area.

Most government officials seem convinced that school buses built these days are about as safe as they can be.

“I’m sure we are losing more kids on bicycles or in pedestrian crosswalks,” said John Green, school pupil safety coordinator for the CHP. “But there’s something about parents and school buses. Maybe they feel that buses are their only link to the schools, so that’s where they focus all of their concerns. I don’t know why they won’t look at the facts.”

Alice Lemmens, an airline stewardess and mother of two from Westlake Village, drives her children to school and does not allow them to ride school buses, even on field trips. She said she plans to stand firm against the flow of government information defending the absence of seat restraints on buses.

“You can’t tell me that there isn’t a better chance of survival if a child is restrained in their seat,” Lemmens said. “I know from my experience on airplanes. If it doesn’t have a seat belt, and it’s moving, my children aren’t getting on it.”

A Safe Ride to School State and school officials say riding school buses is one of the safest forms of transportation, with only eight deaths on California buses during the past 20 years. While they have taken no position on a new type of seat restraint, called the R-Bar, government agencies suggest increased efforts to make sure buses comply with safety standards.

Adopting Federal Safety Standards Regulations adopted in 1977 set higher standards for school bus construction. As of January, about two-thirds of buses operating in California were built after the guidelines were imposed. Some highlights: Windows: Easier release for emergency exit. Interior: Burn-resistant materials used in seating compartment Mirrors: Starting in December, federal authorities will require mirrors enabling drivers to see from ground-level up, around the front corners and near the rear tires on both sides. Body: Improvements on joints that hold panels together. Body: Structural strength requirements for rollover protection. Fuel system: Higher standards for buses over 10,000 pounds Seating: Padding and construction standards for crash protection. Brakes: Hydraulic system requirements increased. Testing New Technology Administrators at Las Virgenes Unified School District are considering the installment of R-Bars, which flip down over students’ laps, on one bus for a three-month trial period. After that, they may install them on another 37 buses, at a cost of $70 per student. Interest in the R-Bars stems from reports that lap seat belts may cause more injuries than they prevent. Declining injuries In California, the number of passenger injuries was less from 1983-93 than in the previous 10 years, even though the number of buses increased 22%. Injury comparison for periods of 1973-83 and 1983-93. Deaths 1973-83: 6 1983-93: 2 Severe injuries 1973-83: 44 1983-93: 32 Moderate injuries 1973-83: 1,220 1983-93: 1,159 Inspection Findings From January to June, the California Highway Patrol inspected 12,657 school buses. Of those, 866 (6.8%) were taken out of commission . Common infractions: General equipment: 10,850 cases Seats, windows, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, floor covering Brake violations: 1,875 cases Lamps and signals: 1,513 cases Steering ans suspension: 1,507 cases Tire and wheel: 462 cases Sources: California Highway Patrol, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Transportation Safety Board