[LasVegasMac]

Seems kind of funny that they don’t have seat belts on school buses...

I have never understood that.

Get caught with a kid in YOUR car without restraints and, in many states, you will be hung from the highest limb on the nearest tree.

Same kid...on a skool bus...no restraints....NO PROBLEM!

As far as I know, in every state.

Full speed ahead and the captains's chair is empty.

[digger48]

Some of the concerns that drivers express about seat belts are:

Students can and do use the heavy belt buckles as weapons, injuring other riders.

It is next to impossible to make sure that all students keep their belts properly fastened, so that they are not injured by the belts in an accident.

If a bus has to be evacuated in an emergency, such as a fire, panicked or disoriented students might be trapped by their belts.
When drivers balance these concerns against the many safety features already built into the design of school buses, they conclude that given the way buses are presently operated, they are safer without seat belts.

[Dan Evans]

I just looked up the numbers on this and it turns out that on a passenger-mile basis, school buses are 100 times safer than passenger cars. Probably because of the “tank” effect where the more massive vehicle wins the argument. At least until the bus tips over.

Best thing, though, is to home-school.

[SoftballMominVA]

The justification that I was told for no seat belts is the danger of having little ones trapped in the event the driver is incapacitated and the danger of the belts flying across the cabin. In a car, the adult to child ration is fairly small; in a bus there could be conceivably 40-50 kids to one adult and in an emergency, who gets the kids out? Not to mention, kids 8 and under should technically be in a booster seat, not a regular seat anyway.

I'm not saying that buses should or should not have belts - just sharing what I was told by a transportation coordinator when I asked why there were none on our buses.