Skip to content

Submitter reopens debate regarding usage of seatbelts in school buses

How can it be said that seatbelt use on our school buses does not improve safety to our children?

Dear Editor;

How can it be said that seatbelt use on our school buses does not improve safety to our children?

How after what happened last week can we argue this mute point?

I am not a transportation expert nor do I confess to know anything about safety issues on our school buses. I am however an intelligent human being with the common sense that God installed in me to weigh the facts that are presented to me and hopefully I have the cognitive abilities to comment on the issues at hand with a level of intelligence that will appeal to other readers and changes can be made.

Has anyone but me questioned the photos of this horrific accident? Can I ask how after seeing the damage to the bus can we question the use of seat belts on a school bus? Did anyone notice that the seats were still intact even though the side of the bus was torn away? I ask this, Do you think that if we would have had these children belted in...? I am not saying that these kids would have not been killed and injured in such a horrific accident. I am saying that if they were belted in no child would have been thrown anywhere and perhaps we would have a different story today.

Hindsight is 100 per cent - lets use this hindsight to improve the safety of our children.

If we put seatbelts in our buses even though the study that is based on lap belts only and not the full safety harnesses that a lap and chest belt would provide, even though The study found belts would make a small difference, reducing the number of kids killed each year in school bus crashes from eight to seven.

Don’t you think that 1 child’s life per year is worth the added expense and effort of adding seatbelts to our children’s buses? We do.

I do not know Jennifer Dawn Noble’s parents but my heart goes out to them and even though I never met this beautiful young girl I shed a tear every time I think of her and her parents. I am very sorry for your loss.

I truly hope that through your loss something of consequence transpires and it saves a life in the future.

Mark Steeves

Eckville, Alta.