These Are the Important Reasons Why School Buses Don’t Have Seatbelts

9School buses have high seats that can absorb big and small shocks

The seat of a school bus is really high which makes it safe for children as it absorbs any type of impact shock in an accident. It is also thickly padded making the absorbing feature stronger. 

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10School bus seats will distribute a shock throughout a passenger’s body

If there was a seatbelt involved, the shock would target the head and neck, but the large size of the seats spreads the shock of an impact evenly. Together with the heavy padding the seats can cushion a blow causing the child to experience less whiplash due to the force of the impact being distributed throughout the body. 

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11School buses are driven at low speeds

It is the practice for school buses to drive through residential areas at slow speed of 30 and below. This minimizes the chances of collision and even if there is one, the damage will be minimal and most probably only affect the vehicle and not the passengers. 

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12The Debate continues

US federal law requires seat belts in school buses that weigh less than 10,000 pounds but in several states, the debate continues as to why a bus should not have seatbelts if trucks and cars have them. Yet there are many states where school buses don’t have seatbelts.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, even without seatbelts school buses are the safest mode of transportation. Between 2005 and 2014, 1,191 crashes involving school buses were reported which is less than 1 % of 331,730 fatal crashes in those 10 years. Only six states have laws that require school buses to have seatbelts. 

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