Why don't school buses have seat belts?

Research has shown that school buses are very safe. In fact, they are 40 times safer than regular cars! The weight of the buses, as well as the fact that the riders sit up so much higher, are both factors that make school buses safer (and the bright yellow color can't hurt, either).

Instead of relying on seat belts, engineers used something they call compartmentalization to keep kids safe. They decrease the space between each seat and they cover it with four-inch-thick foam to form what they call a protective bubble.

"The child will go against the seat, and that will absorb most of the impact," explains John Hamilton, transportation director for the Jackson County, Florida, school board. "Plus, it's a safety device so that they won't be projecting through the air."

What the research shows

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that 440,000 public school buses in the United States carried 24 million children to school with six children dying each year from bus accidents. In comparison, 800 children die every year from walking, biking or being driven to school. So basically, it seems that riding the bus is the safest way for your child to get to school -- even without seat belts.

Research by the University of Alabama said that installing seat belts would add $8,000-$15,000 to the cost of a new bus and would have "little to no impact on safety." This would cost each state a minimum of $117 million.

Costs versus benefits

The NHTSA also concludes that that lap and shoulder belts can be misused, resulting in more injury. "Lap/shoulder belts can be misused and NHTSA's testing showed that serious neck injury and perhaps abdominal injury could result when lap/shoulder belts are misused," it said. Furthermore, the NHTSA concluded that it was unrealistic to ask bus drivers to make sure each child complied with seat belts.

Taking all of this into consideration, many transportation safety experts agree with the Alabama study that states: "Costs far exceed benefits, and school bus seat belts appear to be less cost-effective than other types of safety treatments."

The deputy head of the NHTSA told school transportation officials that many fatalities that occur on buses would not have been prevented with the use of seat belts. ""Most school bus passenger fatalities are because the passenger's seating position was in direct line with the crash forces, and seat belts would not have prevented these fatalities."

Federal law does not require seat belts on buses, but does leave it up the state to decide. Only six states -- California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas -- require seat belts on buses.

>>Tell us: What do you think? Do you trust that school buses are safe enough without seat belts, or do you think they should be mandatory?

Read more about riding the school bus

• Preparing for the first school bus ride
• Teaching kids bus safety