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Read an article about Elvis Kovacic's opinion on "Do school buses need seat belts?". Contrary to the popular belief, he says that, installation of seatbelts in school buses is not at all required.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Elvis Kovacic believes that there could be better solutions to saftey of passengers than the obvious one-dimensional solution of installing seat belts.
