Elvis Kovacic: Do school buses need seat belts?

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DO SCHOOL BUSES NEED SEAT BELTS?
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The efficacy of seat belt use in school buses has
been a polemic issue. While many feel that
installing and enforcing seat belts in school
buses is a great idea, others are of the opinion
that it is a mere waste of resources. After
evaluating the pros and cons of seat belts in
school buses, a better choice would be to
discourage using seat belts in school buses.
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Children are most vulnerable to fall prey to
accidents in buses in situations where evacuating
could save passengers' lives. A child is less
likely to know the usage of a seatbelt. The
inability to remove or loosen a seatbelt quickly
in a crisis could cause serious injuries.
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If seat belts were made compulsory, it would be
highly unlikely that all the children seated in
the bus would be wearing seat belts. It would be
impossible for the bus driver to monitor each
child and continue to drive safely. In this case,
if some of the children were wearing belts and
others were not it could cause more danger than
no belts being worn at all. The impact of
collision of a belted child with the unbelted one
would cause both much more harm.
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Furthermore, the buses designed today are quite
taller than average vehicles. The seats are also
designed in a way so as to minimize the risk of
tossing around in sudden stoppages or collisions.
As long as the children remain seated properly,
the likelihood of injury is minimal.
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In Elvis Kovacic's opinion, installation of
seatbelts in school buses is not at all required.
He is strongly against enforcing seat belts in
school buses for various reasons. Installing seat
belts would cost a lot to taxpayers moreover,
the on-going maintenance issues associated with
seat belts would be quite high. Elvis Kovacic
feels that the overall benefit is neglible and
does not outweigh the overall cost of having
safety belts on buses.
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He urges people to consider the impact the
installation of belts on buses may have on safety
on passengers. They may present actual harm or
safety issues if they are not maintained in
proper working order, as belts adjustable to suit
all shapes and sizes would be impractical.
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Elvis Kovacic believes that there could be better
solutions to saftey of passengers than the
obvious one-dimensional solution of installing
seat belts.
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THANK YOU