Safer school buses

Gov. Matt Blunt formed a task force to study the safety of school buses after three accidents involving the buses occurred this month in Missouri. The worst accident involving a school bus killed two motorists and injured 23 children, some of them seriously. One of the issues to be studied is whether seat belts would reduce the number of injuries sustained in school bus accidents.

The National Coalition for School Bus Safety maintains that seat belts could save children's lives, especially in rear and side collisions and rollovers.

But a West Palm Beach, Fla., freshman who died in a school bus accident in 2004 was not wearing the lap belt provided on her school bus. Can bus drivers police whether all the students on the bus have secured their seat belts? And can seat belts accommodate the varieties of size and weights of students who ride school buses?

A three-point harness manufactured by the Busbelts Development Corp. can be retrofitted to any large school bus built after 1977. The harness is supposed to work for all sizes and weights of children at a cost of $2,500 plus insurance for each bus.

The cost of outfitting school buses with seat belts has to be considered an issue, although the price can't be too high if a child's life is saved. But those who say seat belts are unnecessary argue that high-backed school bus seats already provide adequate protection because they compartmentalize the passengers.

New Jersey mandates seat belts on school buses. New York leaves enforcement of its mandate up to the individual districts. They are the only states to promote putting seat belts on school buses.

Certainly there are other important issues in school bus safety, such as driver training and whether buses are being adequately maintained. Better training and maintenance could reduce accidents, but seat belts could reduce injuries and deaths in the accidents that do occur.

The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics are among the organizations that have endorsed putting seat belts in school buses. The National School Transportation Association, an organization of school bus contractors, supports three-point lap and shoulder restraints but does not endorse conventional seat belts, arguing they could hinder evacuation of a bus in an emergency.

With children's lives at stake, we hope the task force gets to work and makes a recommendation soon.