School Bus Seat Belt Issue Debated on Fox News

LOS ANGELES - Fox News Network interviewed NASDPTS Executive Director Charles Gauthier on the divisive issue of seat belts aboard school buses, amid a new California law requiring the lap-shoulder variety on all such vehicles beginning next summer (see related story on page 10).

Fox News Live showed a videotape from an undisclosed school bus accident earlier this year, a rollover that resulted in school children being thrown from their seats and into a mass of flailing, upside-down bodies. The reporter asked Gauthier and Stephanie Trombello, executive director of safety advocate SafetyBeltSafe USA , whether seat belts on school buses should be a nationwide law.

Gauthier pointed to three facts supporting the position that school buses are already the safest vehicle on the road, without the presence of restraints. Extensive studies by NHTSA and Transport Canada show that lap belts may actually cause more injuries, he said, and, of the estimated 800 students that dies each year traveling to and from school, only five deaths occur in school buses.

"That's a hard sell if you have just one child killed," the reporter said. Trombello pointed to the Nov. 12 death of a Florida high school student, who was ejected during a rollover, as the most recent example of why the lap-shoulder belts are necessary.

"Most children don't have the kind of belts we're looking forward to under the law," she said, adding that about 1,200 of the 450,000 school buses nationwide are currently equipped with seat belts of any kind.

Gauthier said the school bus industry is not against lap-shoulder belts, but said time and money are needed before they could be implemented.

"We believe that lap-shoulder belts, not lap belts are a reasonable item to put on school buses," he said. "But we've got to make sure we get adequate funding for the belts. (And) lap-shoulder belt equipped buses will carry fewer kids and we don't want to take kids out of buses and put them in less safe modes of transportation."

"These can not be unfunded mandates," he later told School Transportation News, adding that society should be considering options that would identify the necessary funding that would further enhance the safety of school buses. He said solutions must be found to such issues as school district budget cuts, proper wages for school bus drivers, enhanced pupil transportation infrastructures, safer walking and bicycling routes to school, and enhanced driver education programs for student and parent motorists alike

Trombello said nationwide school bus lap-shoulder belt legislation is the first logical step.

"I'm very emphatic that the school bus is a very safe form of transportation. (But) I think it would behoove everyone to get on board to make this as economically feasible as possible," she said. "It could help everyone across the country because if you sell a lot of buses and have a lot of competition at least the prices don't go up."

As for paying for the three-point restraint systems, considering "NTSB wants to rattle the cages of the people at NHTSA," she said she is ready and willing to assist the school bus industry in the lobbying effort.

"If (Gauthier) wants to work on a funded mandate, I'm all for it. Sure I'll help him find more funds. I would support anything that would increase funding for child safety," said Trombello. "The opportunity is here for people to band together. You can't tell people that the technology is here but it's only here for some people."