Should seat belts be mandatory on school buses?

NEA Today, Oct 1998 by Hill, Ozzie Jr, Moore, Debbie

Right now, school buses are the safest form of transportation on the road. In 1995-96, there were 16 pupils killed on school buses nationwide-out of 24.5 million students riding the buses every day over a distance of 5 billion miles.

Most bus accidents that year were collisions, which school buses are built to withstand with minimum injury to passengers. And most bus fatalities occur outside of the bus, in loading and unloading zones.

Even one student death is one too many, but seat belts aren't the answer. We can improve school bus safety by strictly enforcing the no-pass law, putting an aide on every bus, improving the training we offer drivers, and getting more support from parents and administrators when there are discipline problems on buses.

But by far the best way we can boost bus safety is to boost bus safety instruction. By teaching students how to behave on and around buses, we can do more to prevent injuries and deaths than seat belts could ever do.

Ozzie Hill, Jr., drives a school bus for the Camp Lejeune Department of Defense Depen dent Schools in North Carolina. A former NEA local affiliate president, he's now the Human and Civil Rights Coordinator for the Lejeune Education Support Association. He can be reached at ozdehill@gibralter.net.

Debbie Moore, a school bus driver for 10 years, has served as president, vice.president, and now as secretary of the Gwinnett Bus Drivers Assoction in Georgia. In 1993, the Georgia Association of Educators named Moore its ESP of the Year. She can be reached at dm9165@bellsouth.net.