I gradated high school in 2001, so I haven't been on a school bus in while.

I always though it was hilarious, how everyone talks about keeping our kids safe in school, having a police guard on hand at the school, ect ect.

Yet we throw bus loads of kids on the road without any kind of seat belts.

I was in a pretty major school bus accident when i was kid, I came out okay thankfully, but a lot of other kids didn't. I can only think that Seat Belts would have helped a little bit.

Then again, maybe all school buses have seat belts now..

How are you gonna enforce who wears one, when many adults dont wear them in their cars even.

Kiev Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How are you gonna enforce who wears one, when many
> adults dont wear them in their cars even.

I noticed the other day that the County is mounting a special enforcement effort to crackdown on people who don't wear seat belts and I almost laughed at it because I thought everybody wears a today. I'd feel naked in a car without a seat belt on.

I didn't say you had to enforce it, but at least give the kids an option.

School bus passengers are exempt from Federal seat belt laws. They use "compartmentalization" which is formed by high, and thickly padded, seat backs. That's why the driver is always telling kids to keep their legs out of the aisle.

There are seat belts on FFX buses, on the first few rows of seats at the front. But about the only time they're used is by drivers for their own kids' car seats.

I have had a few kids want to buckle up and I tell them to go ahead.

School buses are BY FAR the safest vehicles on the road and the annual fatalities are miniscule. But every time there is a wreck, the hue and cry goes up for seat belts on school buses. IT FLAT WON'T WORK! How in the world would you get 50+ middle schoolers to buckle up? We can't even get them to sit down!

Actually seat belts themselves are dangerous. The ones that are there are often used as weapons to smack another kid upside the head with the buckle (drawing blood sometimes!). Then they'll string them together across the aisle to use as a trip wire...more injuries happen that way.

All seat belts on buses are good for is to waste tens of millions of dollars (nationwide).

bus driver Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> School bus passengers are exempt from Federal seat
> belt laws. They use "compartmentalization" which
> is formed by high, and thickly padded, seat backs.
> That's why the driver is always telling kids to
> keep their legs out of the aisle.
>
> There are seat belts on FFX buses, on the first
> few rows of seats at the front. But about the
> only time they're used is by drivers for their own
> kids' car seats.
>
> I have had a few kids want to buckle up and I tell
> them to go ahead.
>
> School buses are BY FAR the safest vehicles on th
> road and the annual fatalities are miniscule. But
> every time there is a wreck, the hue and cry goes
> up for seat belts on school buses. IT FLAT WON'T
> WORK! How in the world would you get 50+ middle
> schoolers to buckle up? We can't even get them to
> sit down!
>
> Actually seat belts themselves are dangerous. The
> ones that are there are often used as weapons to
> smack another kid upside the head with the buckle
> (drawing blood sometimes!). Then they'll string
> them together across the aisle to use as a trip
> wire...more injuries happen that way.
>
> All seat belts on buses are good for is to waste
> tens of millions of dollars (nationwide).


This is the exact same story i was hearing in high school. I don't buy it.


For one, you don't have to enforce it, by installing seat belts, the school has some limited liability because they can say "hey the seat belt was installed, the kid didn't wear it"

Granted school bus crashes are rare, but I would say School shooting are even rarer. I have to believe the amount of money spent on metal detectors, cameras, security, ect has to be reaching a number close to the millions.

I'm not talking about putting seat belts in every single bus either, why doesn't every new bus come with seat belts installed? And phase them in that way.

The weapon thing is just insane, a kid can use anything as a weapon.

The only good thing about using a seat belt as a "weapon", is that the kid getting hit has the same "weapon" to hit back with.


You have to step back and look at the big picture,

Every single vehicle on the road has seat belts, that your required to have on. The only one that doesn't is the one that holds 50+ kids. Does anyone see the irony in that?

I read that in a bus, the danger of fire is greater than that of impact, so it's dangerous to have kids buckled in because it could slow them down when they try to get out of the bus after a crash.

i like how everytime i've been pulled over i haven't had a belt on and they have NEVER said anything...

sarah54 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I read that in a bus, the danger of fire is
> greater than that of impact, so it's dangerous to
> have kids buckled in because it could slow them
> down when they try to get out of the bus after a
> crash.

i heard they had a problem with ninjas coming by cutting all the belts. those ninjas are sneaky.

---

bdimag Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i like how everytime i've been pulled over i
> haven't had a belt on and they have NEVER said
> anything...

maybe they are wishing you will die in a car accident. :P


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

well if they wanted that they wouldnt pull me over...

bdimag Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> well if they wanted that they wouldnt pull me
> over...

nah... they just wanted your money before you bit it. :P


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Adam Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> This is the exact same story i was hearing in high
> school. I don't buy it.
>
>
> For one, you don't have to enforce it, by
> installing seat belts, the school has some limited
> liability because they can say "hey the seat belt
> was installed, the kid didn't wear it"
>
> Granted school bus crashes are rare, but I would
> say School shooting are even rarer. I have to
> believe the amount of money spent on metal
> detectors, cameras, security, ect has to be
> reaching a number close to the millions.
>
> I'm not talking about putting seat belts in every
> single bus either, why doesn't every new bus come
> with seat belts installed? And phase them in that
> way.
>
> The weapon thing is just insane, a kid can use
> anything as a weapon.
>
> The only good thing about using a seat belt as a
> "weapon", is that the kid getting hit has the same
> "weapon" to hit back with.
>
>
> You have to step back and look at the big
> picture,
>
> Every single vehicle on the road has seat belts,
> that your required to have on. The only one that
> doesn't is the one that holds 50+ kids. Does
> anyone see the irony in that?

Well, you don't have to "buy it", it's a Federal law that school buses don't need seat belts. Look it up.

Sure they can hit each other with anything, why add another handy object?

You're crazy, if laws are passed that require seat belts in buses, then kids will be required to wear them. And drivers will be held accountable if they don't and there's an accident. Good thing that most of us are indigent and therefore "judgement proof".

I know the guy that buys our buses and he said belt systems like this:
http://www.cewhite.com/student-safety-seat-prod_info.html
add $10 grand to the cost of a bus. Fairfax usually buys 100 buses at a pop. That's a million dollars for seat belts that won't be used and will be vandalized.

Oh BTW, all you proud parents out there, They have been upgrading the bus cameras at a furious pace! New digital and multi camera ones. The driver can also "mark" the video to make it real easy to find specific events. A whole bunch of parents have been finding out the cost of replacing bus seat covers lately! Tell Biff and Hannah to write on something else!

Oh, and in what FCPS school have you seen a metal detector? I never have and I've been in a lot of schools.

When I was in school I heard that some of the buses had fake cameras just to keep the kids in line. Some buses had a big black box, while other had a small white camera. I heard the big black ones were fake.

sarah54 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When I was in school I heard that some of the
> buses had fake cameras just to keep the kids in
> line. Some buses had a big black box, while other
> had a small white camera. I heard the big black
> ones were fake.


Yes, there were (and may still be a few) some fake ones way back, and they were white. But some of the white ones are real also. All the black ones are real. The only way to tell for sure is look for the VCR/DVR box. It's a black metal box usually located under a seat.

The cameras are as much, or more, for catching drivers than the kids anyway! LOL

Back in New York state in the 80s and 90s when I was growing up, they did the 'phase in' of the seat belts with the new buses they bought. And no, kids didn't vandalize the seat belts, actually. I don't recall having ever seen one that was vandalized...

But did I ever wear one? Nope. Wasn't required. How is someone going to enforce that? Also, our school district's bus superintendant said that it actually could be worse if you wear one when you need to evacuate everyone quickly and you have little kids trying to undo the seat belts... He said the way the seats are designed, you don't need them.

Also, for the cameras topic - we had boxes in the buses. What we were told was they rotated the cameras through the buses in the district, so you never knew which bus had a camera. All the boxes looked the same though...

ladymacb29 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And no,
> kids didn't vandalize the seat belts, actually. I
> don't recall having ever seen one that was
> vandalized...

ninjas! i said ninjas!


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html


TEN WUSSIFIED STATES No wonder we are cultivating a country of wussified, government educated candyass leaches. Here is an article for Parents Magazine that looks like appeared as a segment on the Today Show. It lists the ten safest states for your child to live in. I know you want the list, so here are the top ten. The list could be more accurately characterized as the Top Ten Nanny States:
1. Connecticut
2. Rhode Island
3. New Jersey
4. New York
5. California
6. Maine
7. Pennsylvania
8. Mass.
9. Maryland
10. Oregon

So this led to my first question ... what makes these states "safe." And can you guess what I found? Government, government, government and more government. According to these people at Parent Magazine, more nanny state government regulations makes for a better place for your child to live.
Connecticut is the safest state in the country because it is the best at "enacting safety-minded laws and educating parents about them." In other words, the government tells parents what stupid things you can and cannot do with your child. But Connecticut does have one flaw that it needs to overcome: backyard swimming pools. Yes, folks. Those evil swimming pools are dragging down this "safety-minded" state because God forbid one of their little angels drowns because the government didn't mandate that you put a fence around your swimming pool.
You want more examples? Rhode Island ranks #2 because it has stronger punishments for first degree child molesters that require offenders to be electronically monitored for life. California ranks #5 because it has strong playground, bike and pool safety laws.
You want safe? Just where is the safest place to live in America. Where are you absolutely guaranteed everything you need to sustain your life, and where you can go about your daily activities without any fear whatsoever ... not even a smidgen of fear ... that someone is going to hurt you. That would be in the solitary confinement wing of a maximum security prison. Who gives a damn about freedom ... let's work on security
I wonder how the frontier territories ... where real Americans were bred ... would rate on the nanny scale?

>>#1 Connecticut

Hartford, CT is the most boring city I have ever spent time in.

tomahawk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html
>
>
> TEN WUSSIFIED STATES No wonder we are cultivating
> a country of wussified, government educated
> candyass leaches. Here is an article for Parents
> Magazine that looks like appeared as a segment on
> the Today Show. It lists the ten safest states for
> your child to live in. I know you want the list,
> so here are the top ten. The list could be more
> accurately characterized as the Top Ten Nanny
> States:
> 1. Connecticut
> 2. Rhode Island
> 3. New Jersey
> 4. New York
> 5. California
> 6. Maine
> 7. Pennsylvania
> 8. Mass.
> 9. Maryland
> 10. Oregon
>
> So this led to my first question ... what makes
> these states "safe." And can you guess what I
> found? Government, government, government and more
> government. According to these people at Parent
> Magazine, more nanny state government regulations
> makes for a better place for your child to live.
> Connecticut is the safest state in the country
> because it is the best at "enacting safety-minded
> laws and educating parents about them." In other
> words, the government tells parents what stupid
> things you can and cannot do with your child. But
> Connecticut does have one flaw that it needs to
> overcome: backyard swimming pools. Yes, folks.
> Those evil swimming pools are dragging down this
> "safety-minded" state because God forbid one of
> their little angels drowns because the government
> didn't mandate that you put a fence around your
> swimming pool.
> You want more examples? Rhode Island ranks #2
> because it has stronger punishments for first
> degree child molesters that require offenders to
> be electronically monitored for life. California
> ranks #5 because it has strong playground, bike
> and pool safety laws.
> You want safe? Just where is the safest place to
> live in America. Where are you absolutely
> guaranteed everything you need to sustain your
> life, and where you can go about your daily
> activities without any fear whatsoever ... not
> even a smidgen of fear ... that someone is going
> to hurt you. That would be in the solitary
> confinement wing of a maximum security prison. Who
> gives a damn about freedom ... let's work on
> security
> I wonder how the frontier territories ... where
> real Americans were bred ... would rate on the
> nanny scale?


If this kind of logic applies, the District of Columbia should be the
safest city in the world because of its gun laws.