WEBVTT - Should School Buses Have Seat Belts?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel bam here just to give you a heads up.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode involves super not graphic discussions of school kids

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<v Speaker 1>and car crashes. It's about how laws might prevent injury,

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<v Speaker 1>but go on and skip it if you want to.

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<v Speaker 1>So in general, parents and lawmakers alike seem pretty okay

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<v Speaker 1>with letting children hop on school buses every day without

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<v Speaker 1>giving too much thought to the fact that those same

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<v Speaker 1>kids would be firmly buckled up if they were riding

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<v Speaker 1>in a car. In fact, for many of the younger,

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<v Speaker 1>smaller kids, even regular seat belts wouldn't be sufficient in

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<v Speaker 1>a car that have to have the additional protection of

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<v Speaker 1>a car seat or booster seat. So why this disparity

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<v Speaker 1>when it comes to school bus safety? Who decided that

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<v Speaker 1>school buses don't need seatbelts? And is it even true?

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<v Speaker 1>The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or n h T

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<v Speaker 1>s A, which tracks traffic and safety data, is one

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<v Speaker 1>organization that has historically advocated that seat belts are not

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<v Speaker 1>necessary on school buses, because the organization says, the school

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<v Speaker 1>bus is the safest vehicle on the road. N h

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<v Speaker 1>T s A points to data showing that in a

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<v Speaker 1>ten year span from two thousand eighteen, a very small

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<v Speaker 1>percentage of total road accidents and deaths occurred involving school transportation.

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<v Speaker 1>School buses are designed for good crash and rollover protection.

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<v Speaker 1>They protect kids through compartmentalization, which means spacing seats close together,

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<v Speaker 1>as well as using seats with high energy absorbing backs

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<v Speaker 1>to prevent children from being tossed around in case of

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<v Speaker 1>a collision. School buses are also highly visible and have

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<v Speaker 1>safety features like flashing red lights, crossview mirrors, and stop

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<v Speaker 1>sign arms. Drivers stay on carefully planned routes and maintain

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<v Speaker 1>slow speeds. Unfortunately, though deadly, school bus crashes can happen.

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<v Speaker 1>In n h T s A administrator Mark rose Kind

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<v Speaker 1>publicly reversed the organization's long standing position and began advocating

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<v Speaker 1>for three point seat belts on every school bus, and

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<v Speaker 1>after one tragic crash in in Morris County, New Jersey,

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<v Speaker 1>involving two deaths and forty three injuries, the National Transportation

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<v Speaker 1>Safety Board opened a full investigation into school bus safety.

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<v Speaker 1>The board's report concluded that quote to provide the best

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<v Speaker 1>protection for all occupants of large school buses. The remaining

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<v Speaker 1>step is for each state to require the installation of

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<v Speaker 1>lap shoulder belts in all new large school buses. Today,

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<v Speaker 1>seat belts are only federally mandated on small school buses

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<v Speaker 1>or those weighing ten thousand pounds or about kilos or less.

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<v Speaker 1>States are allowed to decide whether to mandate them on

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<v Speaker 1>the rest of their school buses, and currently only eight

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<v Speaker 1>states Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York,

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<v Speaker 1>and Texas have laws requiring seat belts on large school buses,

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<v Speaker 1>though many others are considering similar legislation. Opponents obviously want

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<v Speaker 1>to keep kids safe, but point to the cost not

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<v Speaker 1>just of buying and installing the belts, but of those

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<v Speaker 1>belts reducing buses passenger capacity, which would mean school districts

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<v Speaker 1>would need more buses in their fleets. And since most

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<v Speaker 1>school buses are on the road for at least ten

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<v Speaker 1>and often up to twenty years, it's unlikely that tightly

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<v Speaker 1>budgeted school districts would choose to retrofit older buses due

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<v Speaker 1>to those costs, which means it would potentially take decades

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<v Speaker 1>for new legislation requiring seatbelts to take effect across a

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<v Speaker 1>fleet as new buses slowly replace older ones. For now,

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<v Speaker 1>it's unclear weather federal standards will change, but states are

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<v Speaker 1>still free to set tougher restrictions as they see fit.

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<v Speaker 1>Parents may take some comfort in knowing that school buses

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<v Speaker 1>are the most regulated vehicles on the road, and as

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<v Speaker 1>a result, students riding them to school are statistically about

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<v Speaker 1>seventy times safer than they would be traveling to school

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<v Speaker 1>by car. Today's episode was written by Series three Wit

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler clang A brain Stuff is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more

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<v Speaker 1>in this amounts of other topics, visit our home planet

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