1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bam here just to give you a heads up. 3 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: Today's episode involves super not graphic discussions of school kids 4 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:17,240 Speaker 1: and car crashes. It's about how laws might prevent injury, 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: but go on and skip it if you want to. 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: So in general, parents and lawmakers alike seem pretty okay 7 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: with letting children hop on school buses every day without 8 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: giving too much thought to the fact that those same 9 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: kids would be firmly buckled up if they were riding 10 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: in a car. In fact, for many of the younger, 11 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: smaller kids, even regular seat belts wouldn't be sufficient in 12 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: a car that have to have the additional protection of 13 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: a car seat or booster seat. So why this disparity 14 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: when it comes to school bus safety? Who decided that 15 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:50,199 Speaker 1: school buses don't need seatbelts? And is it even true? 16 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or n h T 17 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: s A, which tracks traffic and safety data, is one 18 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: organization that has historically advocated that seat belts are not 19 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: necessary on school buses, because the organization says, the school 20 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: bus is the safest vehicle on the road. N h 21 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: T s A points to data showing that in a 22 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:14,119 Speaker 1: ten year span from two thousand eighteen, a very small 23 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: percentage of total road accidents and deaths occurred involving school transportation. 24 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: School buses are designed for good crash and rollover protection. 25 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: They protect kids through compartmentalization, which means spacing seats close together, 26 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: as well as using seats with high energy absorbing backs 27 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: to prevent children from being tossed around in case of 28 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: a collision. School buses are also highly visible and have 29 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: safety features like flashing red lights, crossview mirrors, and stop 30 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:46,040 Speaker 1: sign arms. Drivers stay on carefully planned routes and maintain 31 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: slow speeds. Unfortunately, though deadly, school bus crashes can happen. 32 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: In n h T s A administrator Mark rose Kind 33 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: publicly reversed the organization's long standing position and began advocating 34 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: for three point seat belts on every school bus, and 35 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: after one tragic crash in in Morris County, New Jersey, 36 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: involving two deaths and forty three injuries, the National Transportation 37 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: Safety Board opened a full investigation into school bus safety. 38 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: The board's report concluded that quote to provide the best 39 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,919 Speaker 1: protection for all occupants of large school buses. The remaining 40 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: step is for each state to require the installation of 41 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: lap shoulder belts in all new large school buses. Today, 42 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: seat belts are only federally mandated on small school buses 43 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: or those weighing ten thousand pounds or about kilos or less. 44 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: States are allowed to decide whether to mandate them on 45 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: the rest of their school buses, and currently only eight 46 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: states Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, 47 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: and Texas have laws requiring seat belts on large school buses, 48 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: though many others are considering similar legislation. Opponents obviously want 49 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: to keep kids safe, but point to the cost not 50 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: just of buying and installing the belts, but of those 51 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,920 Speaker 1: belts reducing buses passenger capacity, which would mean school districts 52 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: would need more buses in their fleets. And since most 53 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:12,959 Speaker 1: school buses are on the road for at least ten 54 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: and often up to twenty years, it's unlikely that tightly 55 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: budgeted school districts would choose to retrofit older buses due 56 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: to those costs, which means it would potentially take decades 57 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: for new legislation requiring seatbelts to take effect across a 58 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: fleet as new buses slowly replace older ones. For now, 59 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 1: it's unclear weather federal standards will change, but states are 60 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: still free to set tougher restrictions as they see fit. 61 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: Parents may take some comfort in knowing that school buses 62 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: are the most regulated vehicles on the road, and as 63 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: a result, students riding them to school are statistically about 64 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: seventy times safer than they would be traveling to school 65 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: by car. Today's episode was written by Series three Wit 66 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler clang A brain Stuff is a 67 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more 68 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: in this amounts of other topics, visit our home planet 69 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com. And for more podcasts from 70 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 71 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.