Bargain lover, I agree. The thought doesn't make sense to us when we strap our infants in from Day One, only to turn them "loose" on a big school bus with no seatbelts.
Here's some background on the issue from the National Coalition for School Bus Safety:
Buses that weigh more than 10,000 pounds are built with a feature called "compartmentalization," meaning they are built to restrain passengers with well-padded, closely spaced seats that protect passengers in compartments much like an egg carton protects eggs. However, serious side-impact or rollover accidents leave small passengers vulnerable. Here's more about that:
And here's a link to a 2005 USA Today story after a school bus crash that discusses the relative degrees of safety between school buses, adult drivers, walking, bicycling and teen drivers:
New York, New Jersey, Florida, California, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas currently have school bus seat belt laws on the books. Some are effective now, others are effective as new buses are purchased in the future.
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Bargain lover, I agree. The thought doesn't make sense to us when we strap our infants in from Day One, only to turn them "loose" on a big school bus with no seatbelts.
Here's some background on the issue from the National Coalition for School Bus Safety:
http://www.ncsbs.org/testimonies/seat_belt_background.htm
Buses that weigh more than 10,000 pounds are built with a feature called "compartmentalization," meaning they are built to restrain passengers with well-padded, closely spaced seats that protect passengers in compartments much like an egg carton protects eggs. However, serious side-impact or rollover accidents leave small passengers vulnerable. Here's more about that:
http://www.schoolnurse.com/med_info/seatbelts.html
And here's a link to a 2005 USA Today story after a school bus crash that discusses the relative degrees of safety between school buses, adult drivers, walking, bicycling and teen drivers:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-09-school-bus-crashes_x.htm
New York, New Jersey, Florida, California, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas currently have school bus seat belt laws on the books. Some are effective now, others are effective as new buses are purchased in the future.
October 2, 2008 - 8:29amThis Comment
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