School bus transportation is one of the safest forms of transportation in the United States. Every year 450,000 public school buses travel more than 4.3 billion miles to transport 23.5 million children to and from school and school-related activities. The record is impressive: American students are nearly eight times safer riding in a school bus than with their own parents and guardians in cars. The fatality rate for school buses is only 0.2 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles travelled (VMT) compared to 1.5 fatalities per 100 million VMT for cars. This safety record is a result of the Department of Transportation's requirements for compartmentalisation on large school buses, and lap belts plus compartmentalisation on small school buses. Moreover, the protective abilities of today's school buses have been reaffirmed by two years of research. Yet, no matter how safe children are on school buses, it is vitally important to constantly reassess existing safety measures. Therefore, Congress requested that DOT investigate the safety value of installing safety belts on school buses. An analysis of test data by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has concluded that lap belts appear to have little, if any, benefit in reducing serious-to-fatal injuries in severe frontal crashes. On the contrary, lap belts could increase the incidence of serious neck injuries and possibly abdominal injury among young passengers in severe frontal crashes. Any increased risks associated with the use of lap belts in small school buses are more than offset by preventing ejections. The use of the combination lap/shoulder belts could provide some benefit, unless misused. Lap/shoulder belts can be misused and NHTSA's testing showed that serious neck injury and perhaps abdominal injury could result when lap/shoulder belts are misused. Other considerations, such as increased capital costs, reduced seating capacities, and other unintended consequences associated with lap/shoulder belts could result in more children seeking alternative means of travelling to and from school. Given that school buses are the safest way to and from school, even the smallest reduction in the number of bus riders could result in more children being killed or injured when using alternative forms of transportation. Over the past 11 years, school buses have annually averaged about 26,000 crashes resulting in 10 deaths - 25 percent were drivers; 75 percent were passengers. Frontal crashes account for about two passenger deaths each year. (A)
Samenvatting