LIBERTY, Mo. – Wednesday’s rollover accident in Bonner Springs, Kan. has reignited the question of seat belts on school buses. Two men lost their lives in 2005 and two children suffered life-long injuries after a bus lost control at an intersection at Highways 152 and 291 in Liberty, Mo.
Just a few months after the Liberty bus crash, Missouri’s governor at the time, Matt Blunt, put together a task force to study seat belts on buses. One of the members was former House Representative Tim Flook who said the task force recommended Missouri require shoulder and lap seat belts on all school buses.
But the proposal went nowhere. Some districts, like Liberty and Independence, have seat belts on the smaller buses that carry preschoolers and Special Education students, but not on the big buses.
Safety advocates said we’re fooling ourselves if we don’t think seat belts wouldn’t be better for all students. The roll over bus crash in Bonner Springs brought painful memories for many in Liberty.
“Renna Yi would be walking to school today if she had had a seat belt on,” Jim Freed, Midwest director for the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, said.
Freed said he’s poured through national studies that tell him seat belts on school buses are a no-brainer.
“Would you allow me to take an aluminum baseball bat put a half inch foam patting on it and then beat your child the answer is: No, of course not,” Freed said.
The only protection on most school buses is foam padding around a steel bar. Freed said if kids go flying, like they did on Wednesday, luck is their best protection.
“I don’t want to make the assumption that something is safe without the scientific testing to justify that,” Freed said.
Keith Henry is the Transportation Director for Independence Schools. They have harness seat belts for a third of their buses but only the ones that carry preschoolers and Special Education students. There are no requirements for big buses over 10,000 pounds that carry the big kids.
“That’s because of the size of the vehicle, the weight distribution and the height as far as off ground and other characteristics,” Henry said.
Henry said that the feds have yet to determine if seat belts are truly safer, but they have determined the cost up to $10,000 per bus.
“But in this case money isn’t the issue money is not the issue it’s just the reality that we don’t know the answers you’re asking for,” Henry said.
“First I’d say it’s worth it even if is $10,000 and I don’t believe it is $10,000,” Flook said.
Flook said that when he was on the task force, politics and cost won over safety.
“Came to the conclusion that three-point system harness seat belts on schools buses were recommended, and how far did that get? It got nowhere,” Flook said. “Frankly, it’s a lot easier to point out the rarity of the accident and avoid the cost and let the health care industry and the families with injured children pick up the cost.”
Safety advocates said if school buses were given a five-star safety rating like cars and minivans, they wouldn’t even get one-star, but school districts said it’s premature to install them if the feds aren’t willing to say it’s necessary.
