Belt the Buses, for Kids’ Sake

You must buckle up if you’re in a car in California. That’s the law. But if you’re a kid in a school bus, you’ll find no belt to buckle. This state doesn’t require the restraints in school buses, although New York, New Jersey and Florida do. California’s only seat belt requirement for school buses applies to vans of less than 10,000 pounds.

Many who oppose seat belts on school buses argue that installing them is too costly. But put a price on it, please, and then ask how many injuries or deaths that equals. To equip a school bus with belts adds only about $2,000 to the vehicle’s cost of $50,000 to $70,000. Furthermore, the use of belts helps cut down on unruly behavior that might distract a driver on the road.

Other opponents of the belts contend that they are useless on buses. If seat belts make cars safer, and they do, reason says that belts in school buses would increase the security of their passengers, especially in crashes that cause a bus to roll over.

There have been few fatal school bus accidents in the past 10 years, but injuries in these vehicles doubled between 1977 and 1996, according to California Highway Patrol statistics.

Today the state Senate Appropriations Committee will take up AB 15, which has already passed the Assembly. The bill, introduced by Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-Baldwin Park), would mandate shoulder and lap restraints on all new school buses after Jan. 1, 2002. It should be approved and sent to the floor for Senate consideration, and good sense would see it move on to the desk of Gov. Gray Davis.