There is no federal law requiring school bus seat belts for large school buses (buses over 10,000 pounds) and only six states have laws making school bus seat belts mandatory for such buses. Missouri is not one of the six states that has such a law.

In the past, the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) has suggested that retrofitting school buses with seat belts was a costly proposition and that buses, without seat belts, were safe.

Numerous federal and academic studies have concluded that school buses are the safest form of ground transportation of all, in fact. The National Safety Council says they’re about 40 times safer than the family car.

About 440,000 public school buses carry 24 million children more than 4.3 billion miles a year, but only about six children die each year in bus accidents, according to annual statistics compiled the NHTSA. About 800 children, by contrast, die every year walking, biking or being driven to school in cars or other passenger vehicles, according to the NHTSA.

In November, that position changed. “The position of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is that seat belts save lives,” Administrator Mark Rosekind said. “That is true whether in a passenger car or in a big yellow bus. And saving lives is what we are about. So NHTSA’s policy is that every child on every school bus should have a three-point seat belt.”

Predictably, the NHTSA’s efforts to require seat belts on school busses are receiving critical comments from state and local governments. If enacted, the school bus seat belts requirement will cause enormous costs for schools to retrofit existing busses.

A University of Alabama study concluded that installing school bus seat belts would add anywhere from $8,000 to $15,000 to the cost of a new bus while having little to no impact on safety.

School bus seat belts would also take up room that’s now used for seats, meaning “fewer children can be accommodated on each row,” according to the Alabama study. That could require school systems to increase the size of its bus fleet to handle the same number of students.

Even proper school bus seat belt usage won’t prevent all harm in case of negligence, such as injuries caused by an unqualified bus driver or by failing to follow proper procedures involving passenger safety. Kennedy, Kennedy, Robbins & Yarbro, LC attorneys have successfully handled claims against school districts for injuries to students in bus accidents or where a student was left on a bus for several hours after the route was completed.

If you have suffered a significant injury or a loved one has been injured as a result of a school bus accident, contact Kennedy, Kennedy, Robbins & Yarbro, LC or call us at (573)686-2459. We offer a free case evaluation for personal injury and auto accident cases. We can advise you of your options and inform you of your right to financial compensation.