Videos of accidents involving college buses present youngsters bouncing round like sneakers in a dryer, and it is not simply the scholars who’re at risk.
Doug Williamson’s sister, fifth grade instructor Jennifer Williamson, was killed together with a scholar on a faculty bus in 2018 when a dump truck crushed the bus whereas driving on a New Jersey freeway.
Jennifer Williamson was a beloved instructor who taught within the district her complete profession. There’s now a scholarship in her title and folks nonetheless go away issues on her brother’s porch in her reminiscence years later.
The bus really had lap belts, however not the a lot safer three-point security belts.
“If all of them had security belts that day, it could have been a distinct end result,” Doug Williamson mentioned.
The crash led the state to move extra sturdy seatbelt security legal guidelines.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have lengthy mentioned seatbelts are most secure, and a crash take a look at at IMMI’s Indiana facility noticed by CBS News exhibits it. A field truck transferring at 40 mph hurtled right into a stationary college bus. The crash dummies inside carrying three-point seat belts barely moved, whereas the unbelted dummies have been despatched flying.
Over one 10-year interval, 1,110 folks have been killed at school bus crashes, a median of 111 folks a yr. As a consequence, eight states have legal guidelines on the books requiring new college buses to have seat belts.
Mark Rosekind, the previous administrator of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, beneficial seat belts on college buses again in 2015, however many within the business fought again, usually citing the price — greater than $8,500 per bus.
“They use that as an excuse to not take motion in an space they know may save lives,” Rosekind mentioned.
Drivers are additionally in danger, as till not too long ago, not one of the iconic yellow college buses got here geared up with airbags for the motive force.
Starting this fall, bus producer Blue Bird’s new buses will provide three-point seatbelts for each passenger. Next yr, they may embrace driver airbags at no further value, because of IMMI.
“This is an business first,” Blue Bird President Britton Smith mentioned. “First time that there is been three-point lap shoulder belts as customary gear.”
Safety advocacy teams and businesses have been calling for these options for years. Rosekind is hoping Blue Bird’s adjustments unfold all through the business and the nation.
“This must be a gauntlet. This must be the usual,” he mentioned.
