School Bus Transportation News at STN Media

3-Point Belts Coming to W. Australia's 'Orange' School Bus

PERTH, Australia - All school buses in Western Australia will be retrofit with 3-point lap/shoulder belts by 2010.

The call for improved school bus safety followed an Oct. 21 crash in Baldivis. Police said the seat belts played a role in minimizing injuries.
Approximately 24,000 rural and special education students are transported each school day on about 800 state-owned "orange" school buses, said Susan Martin, the project officer for the Seatbelt Conversion Project with the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia's School Bus Services.

"There are a further 270 buses that operate in support of the school bus system or are run by government schools, which will also come under the seatbelt program," she added.
The National Transport Council Planning, which accepted the proposal from Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan on Nov. 18, said the proposed regulations will be finalized by the end of the year.
Reece Waldock, CEO of the Public Transport Authority Administration, said the new safety belt and seating configurations will be compliant with the National Australian Design Rule Standards set forth by the Department of Transport and Regional Services. They will also follow the guidelines of the "National Code of Practice - Retrofitting Passenger Restraints to Buses," which is currently being developed by the National Transport Commission.
"The cost of the new policy and a timetable for its implementation is currently being developed and will be determined by the end of this year," Waldock said. "The government is seeking to have retrofitting completed as quickly as is practicable."

Martin explained that b oth documents refer to the relatively poor protective performance of lap only belts, compared to lap-shoulder belts. The National Code of Practice highlights crash test findings in the United States and Canada, which confirm concerns about the lower protection of lap-only belts.

"These tests include data gathered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration," she said. "NHTSA is working with university-based researchers studying school bus crashworthiness."