Hillary Unger

Mr. Maslonka
English 101 N1
15 December 2014
School bus Safety
Do you remember riding a school bus to school and sitting with your back to the
window so you could talk to your friends sitting behind you? Seatbelts create safety to
school buses because seatbelts are required in other automobiles. They are also safer to
hold the children in place tp pervent an accident and stop bullying on the buses from
other children.
Essentially todays busses are having high padded seats backs and fronts. theses
seats have a strong metal inner structure that is meant to take the impact of any collision
that the bus may have. even though this is now required this isn't enough to protect our
children in the event of an rollover. They never seem to make it such a big enough deal
on a daily bascis until a child gets killed. all the articles that i found was when after a
child got killed is when people are stressing seat belts on the busses. (Sibbald)
There were twelfth children on the bus when it rolled over several times after
being hit by a pickup truck. the ages of those children ranged from 9 to 14. three of them
had fractures 1 had a cervical spine injury and an 11 year old girl died. if she would have
been strapped to the bus seat she would have lived and there wouldn't be so many injuries
to the students. the seats with seatbelts would minimize the numbers of severity of
injuries in the event of an roll over. the injuries that mostly get stubstad from accidents
are the head, neck, and spine. (Sibbald)

Bus drivers do not really get any formal training on how to deal with the
children on the bus that causes problems. without proper training it leaves the children
free to roam the bus without punishment. yeah there are cameras on the bus to cover the
whole scene of the bus but that would not stop the children from getting injured in the
cause of a sudden stop or accident or anything that would throw a child from their seat.
with the lack of respect the children have nowadays for adults does not help the bus
drivers get respect on the bus. We all had those bus drivers that were scared of because of
the punishment we would receive. training our drivers better would help to keep children
safer on the buses that transport our future.
the ignorance of drivers and their lack of respect for the laws would cause
accidents for busses. when a child gets hurt it is due to the fact that they are tossed from
the seat and hit a window or the metal from of the bus. this is how the injuries happen.
they get broken arms and legs. broken collar bones shadders from the metal frame of the
seats in front of them. the local families believe that school buses are not as safe as they
could be. i took a survey of local families that have children ride buses to school. i found
out that 83% think that something alittle more to protect our future.
A fifteen passenger van requires all passengers to wear a seat belts while
the van is in motion.A car or pickup truck is required to have a seat belt
for all passengers. A bus hauls more people and a younger generation
which are more fragile to injuries in the cause of an accident. adults bones
can take more to break then their bones and there is a lot of force in a bus
without seatbelts. the law states all passengers need to be wearing a
seatbelt while to vehicle is in motion. so how may I ask how does a

school bus get excluded from that law? governor Matt Blunt of Missouri
feels the same way. he believes that all the buses should atleast have a lap
shoulder seat belt in all new busses. he is currently trying to pass the
legislation for next year to require them. adding seat belts are a needed
step to protect over 500,000 children who depend on school busses for
transportation every day. (Johnson)
Seat belts on the buses that transport them to and from school would not allow
the opportunities to stand up to bully other students on the bus. they would be required to
sit down and and keep their hands to themselves. there wouldn't be any reaching around
to bully other students. yes there would be verbal bullying but there there would be less
likely of a change of that happening due to the fact they wouldn't be able to see the other
students from behind or infront of them.
The smaller busses already have harnesses and belts to keep children safe from
flying around. they need to expand it to the busses that carry larger children and children
that will be more active on the busses. busses that weight five ton or less need them
installed. schools purchase about twenty-five thousand buses a year according to the us
bus of transportation department. the buses hold sixteen to twenty students with the larger
busses carrying up to fifty students. (The, associated press)

Works Cited
Johnson, Robert C. Missouri Governor wants seatbelts in school busses.
Education week 25.3 (2005) 29 web.

Sibbald,Barbara. MDs Call For New Safety Features after death in school bus
crash. Canadian Medical Association. Journal 169.9 (2003) 951. web.

The, associated press. small Buses must have safer belts, u.s rule say education
week 28.9 (2008) 4. web.
Mother Haring Survey 12/2/14
Mother Hillman Survey 12/2/14
Mother Potzman Survey 12/2/14
Mother Smith Survey 12/2/14
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Mother Moreview Survey 12/2/14