School buses do not have passenger seat belts. Yet the law requires that drivers and passengers must use seat belts when travelling in automobiles. Many parents and concerned individuals are understandably confused about this contradiction. School buses do not have seat belts because they are specifically designed and constructed to protect occupants in a variety of other ways.

A total of 35 new safety standards for school buses were introduced in September, 1980 which included a new seating design. In the post-1980 school buses, children do not have to actively protect themselves by fastening a seat belt and ensuring its proper fit. Instead, children are protected by a "passive" system, provided in the seating design itself, which is described as "compartmentalization".

Compartmentalization
The seating design involves high seat backs filled with high energy absorbing padding, with the seats placed closer together; the anchorage for the seat is also stronger. The seats form "compartments" for the passengers, and in a frontal collision this keeps the child's body contained within the seating position and absorbs the forces of the collision.

Transport Canada Studies
In 1984, at the federal level, Transport Canada conducted school bus frontal collision tests on dummies with and without lap belts in school buses with this compartmentalization design. It was found in frontal collisions, more severe head and neck injuries could result with the use of seat belts.

In the test crashers, unbelted dummies moved forward hitting the energy absorbing seat backs with their necks, chest and head, spreading the collision force over their bodies. However, the dummies which had been placed in lap belts, tended to jack-knife over the lap belt and hit the seat backs with the full collision force on their heads.

These tests indicated that the addition of seat belts would require a different seating system, which led to the School Bus Seat Development Study.

Seat Development Study
Transport Canada continued testing and investigating other restraint systems including multi-point and three-point harnesses attached to the seat, contoured seat backs which would prevent forward body movement and rearward facing seats with lap belts.

The study concluded that most types of seat belts and seat designs caused certain problems and would not significantly increase safety. However, it was also concluded that school buses with rearward facing seats and retractable lap belts were effective in reducing all types of injuries.

Rearward Facing Seats With Lap Belts Demonstration Project
Transport Canada conducted field tests, in the 1987-88 school year using three school buses with retractable lap belts and rear facing seats. As in added safety feature, it was necessary to increase the height of rear facing seats.

These school buses were then used in Canada by elementary, junior and high school students for the entire school year. Transport Canada monitored the performance of the system through personal inspections and by talking to school officials, bus drivers, parents and students.

Probably the most important observation was that drivers complained of a visibility problem on the right hand side of the bus due to the high back seats. In order to eliminate this problem, it would probably be necessary to either reduce the height of the seats or have some of the seats near the front remain in the forward facing position.

Other problems encountered by students included difficulties in fastening seat belts with three students on a seat; complaints of belt tightening on rough roads, breakage and wear of belts from students sitting on them, and nausea due to facing backwards.

Another important observation was that seat belt usage varied with student age and driver insistence on wearing of the belts. Usage was estimated at 90-100 percent for primary and elementary level students. For junior high and high school students, the usage rate ranged from 40-75 percent.

Therefore, it is possible that the increase in safety gained by adding seat belts and having the seats face the rear of the bus would be offset by the driver visibility problem and the less than 100 percent seat belt usage. In addition, all seat belts would need to be monitored and maintained to ensure their good working condition.

Accident Investigation
Transport Canada investigated 58 collisions involving school buses between 1977-1988. Of those 58 accidents, nine involved post-1980 buses. Of the 240 occupants in the nine buses at the time of the collision, there were 10 children injured.

Due to the effective design of the side windows, no ejections were reported, despite the fact that there were four severe rollovers. No rupture of the body panel joints were noted in any of the nine collisions.

Nine of the ten injuries occurred from an intrusion into the bus by an object or vehicle. The tenth occupant received injuries as a consequence of being asleep in a prone position on the seat.

The investigation concluded that the use of seat belts would not likely have reduced the injury level of the ten students.

School Buses Are Safe Vehicles For Passengers
The post-1980 school buses have a superior safety record. With the new seat design and the strengthening of the bus joints and body for added rollover protection, school buses are one of the safest vehicles in which to travel.

Transport Canada has estimated that the passengers who travel in these buses are sixteen times safer than motor vehicle occupants per passsenger-kilometre of travel. (Based on an average of 20 occupants per school bus and two occupants per motor vehicle.)

Apart from the stringent safety standards, other factors increase safety for school bus passengers such as the size of the vehicle itself. Unlike automobile passengers, passengers on school buses are not near doors, dashboards or windshields, and the potential to be thrown from the vehicle is greatly reduced.

The weight of the bus is also an advantage in the event of a collision and the special strengthening features in the design protect passengers from impact.

School buses are easily recognizable by their bright chrome yellow colour which helps other motorists to see them. Flashing lights and stop arms not only increase their visibility but provide warnings for motorists who are required by law to stop for school buses. The penalty for motorists who do not stop for school buses, is high, and in most areas if there is a continuing problem the police cooperate in observing the routes.

School bus drivers are given rigorous driver examinations and must have good driving records.

During the ten-year period 1982-1992, more than 1.4 billion pupil trips were taken during which time 1,934 pupils were injured inside school buses. In an average year approximately 200 children are injured, with about eight of those requiring hospital care.

Outside the School Bus
Statistically, the greatest number of fatalities involving school buses occur outside the buses when children are disembarking or attempting to cross the street.

Ontario statistics indicated that 16 fatalities occurred outside the school bus compared to two within the bus during the ten year period 1982-1992. During the same period, 134 children were injured by the school bus and 86 by other vehicles while entering or leaving the school bus.

For this reason, Transport Canada has been conducting research on a number of systems and devices which would potentially increase the visibility or awareness of children in the proximity of the bus for the school bus driver and for other drivers.

Educational Measures
A critical element in school bus safety is the proper teaching of children with regard to procedures and the necessary behaviour in and around school buses. When travelling in the bus it is important that the passengers remain seated when the bus is moving and face forward They should understand that if the driver is to concentrate on the task of driving, passengers should not distract the driver or behave in an unruly manner.

Passengers should be taught that the bus driver and other vehicles on the road may not see them and they must be extremely careful not to run out in front of the bus when they are getting on or off. Students must walk well in front of the school bus so that the driver is able to see them.

Summary
Since there is not enough evidence that the safety of passengers would significantly improve by having seat belts available or changing the seat design, the Province of Ontario does not require school bus operators to adopt the rearward facing seating system, nor does it require seat belts to be installed on school buses. In the absence of standards to control the manner of installation, it would be premature to institute a retrofit program of this magnitude.

Nothing prohibits school bus owners from adding seat belts, but as mentioned, the tests have shown some indication that in certain types of crashes, the risk of severe head and neck injuries could increase when added to buses of the current design.

The Province of Ontario will continue its policy to liaise with and review the research of Transport Canada concerning school bus seat belts. However, school bus safety is also in the hands of drivers, teachers, parents and students. Road Safety. It starts with you.

For further information, please contact:
Ministry of Transportation
Road User Policy Office (416) 235-3585
Public Education (416) 235-3902