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Most of us are aware that seat belts save lives. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 15,000 lives are saved each year in the U.S. because drivers and passengers were buckled up during an accident.
Seat belts protect us while we're in our vehicles in the following ways:
-They keep us inside the vehicle (people thrown from a vehicle are four times more likely to be killed than those who remain inside the vehicle);
-Restraints secure us in the right places, such as our hips and shoulders;
-Seat belts spread out any force from the collision, putting less stress on any one area of the body to help avoid serious injury;
-Seat belts slow our bodies down during an impact and keep our heads and upper bodies away from the dashboard, steering wheel and other parts of the vehicle;
-They protect our brain and spinal cord, and they are specifically designed to do so.
With it being Click It or Ticket time in Wisconsin, I urge all drivers to buckle up, whether you are going on block or 100 miles. It only takes a few seconds to buckle up - so why not do it?
While it may seem like a no brainer to put your seat belt on in the car, I've been wondering after a series of recent school bus accidents why these life saving devices aren't installed on school buses.
From what I could find, school buses are the safest way for children to get to school - safer than walking and safer than getting a ride from someone else in an automobile. Thinking back over the past 10 years, I do not recall a time when I considered this debate other than now - I don't think I remember a school bus crash at all over the past 10 years (not one that sticks out in my memory, at least).
While federal law requires school buses weighing 10,000 lbs. or less to be equipped with seat belts, all of the big yellow buses we are used to seeing (and riding) do not require a seat belt. But these buses are designed with safety in mind - they protect passengers through "compartmentalization," keeping passengers snug in their seats like eggs in a carton.
While this seems legitimate to me (as I remember being packed snugly in a school bus seat), imagine a bus that flipped over - are the passengers still safe tucked in their seats? Unlikely, I thought.
I think about the responsibility a school bus driver has. I think about my own school bus driver when I was a youngster - he was trustworthy, my parents knew his first and last name, and he once made a special trip to my home after I forgot my mittens on the bus one cold day. Can kids and parents say that now about their school bus driver? Who are they?
Some argue that installing seat belts on school buses would cost too much, or it would take too much time to make sure each kid is buckled up. I understand that budgets are tight, especially school budgets. But would kids be safer in a seat belt on a bus?
As I continued my research, I was able to recognize that I'm not the only one curious about the seat belt debate. In fact, just this year, at least 29 states have introduced bills that would address seat belts on school buses. And Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas already have passed some variation of seat belt law for school buses, although funding seems to be a hang up in some of these states.
I'm still unsure if a seat belt on a school bus is best, but I do know this - I do feel safer wearing my seat belt in my vehicle. Do you?