See the forum posting after this (or simply page down) for 2019 update
Some interesting research from NHTSA on School Bus safety, including the fact that:
"School bus transportation is one of the safest forms of transportation in the United States. The fatality rate for school buses is only 0.2 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) compared to 1.5 fatalities per 100 million VMT for cars"
School bus transportation is one of the safest forms of transportation in the United States. Every day, our nation's 440,000 public school buses transport more than 23.5 million children to and from school and school-related activities. The safety 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 traveled (VMT) compared to 1.5 fatalities per 100 million VMT for cars.
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. This paper describes past, present and near-term school bus research efforts.
From Traffic Safety Facts 2004–2013 Data
NHTSA School Bus Fact Sheet 2004 – 2013
From 2004 to 2013 there were 340,039 fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes. Of those, 1,214 (0.4%) were classified as school-transportation-related.
School Bus Fatalities.png (67.76 KiB) Viewed 3749 times
NASDPTS fully supports the installation and use of lap-shoulder belts in school buses. NASDPTS is not advocating that the installation and/or use of lap-shoulder belts be required. NASDPTS believes this should be a local decision based on local need, but also believes lap/shoulder belt equipped seats should be encouraged as an option when considering new bus original equipment. Should a state or local district decide to equip their buses with lap-shoulder belts, NASDPTS believes a mandatory usage policy should also be in place along with necessary training on the importance of wearing and proper usage of the beltsalong with proper evacuation training. NASDPTS supports the NHTSA position that this local decision should not be done at the expense of students being displaced from school bus transportation
To "add seat belts to school buses" isn't a single easy issue to resolve.
There are a number of issues to consider:
You have to install the belts (and anchor points) and reinforce or change the seats
the current bus seats are built to compartmentalize the children, not absorb energy of a belted child?
Or you must buy new buses.
You have to monitor the children to make sure they properly wear the belts and don't play with them and hit each other with them?
Do you add a bus monitor or is this task added to the bus drivers responsibilities?
Do you add a seat belt usage indicator to each seat position?
weight sensors, interlock indicators, wiring, alarms) such that the driver or a bus monitor has electronic indicators to see that all belts are ON.
How to pay for any and all of this adding seat belts or new buses, etc?
Do you add more taxes? Add a school bus fee?
It will be extremely expensive to add belts to buses.
Generally when school systems check the cost vs benefits, most opt out of adding since they find fatal or injury producing bus crashes, while horrific, are relatively rare and so don't justify the significant cost.
Note the NHTSA numbers below:
from 2008-2017, 317,994 fatal motor vehicle crashes,
of those 1,113 we school transportation related,
of those 10% were occupants of school transportation vehicles
that represents approx 12 deaths a year in school buses
And those 12 deaths are out of 52 million passengers A DAY for approximately 260 million miles A DAY.
Based on GAO's analysis of data for 2000 to 2014, 115 fatal crashes involved a school bus on average each year—which is 0.3 percent of the 34,835 total fatal motor-vehicle crashes on average each year.
School buses transport over 26 million students to school and other activities every day.
The main point is it isn't a simple 'look at a video' and in shock order seat belts on buses.
Definitely we want all children safe however the money might be better spent on other child safety issues.
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 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
About 800 children, by contrast, die every year walking, biking or being driven to school in cars or other passenger vehicles, said Ron Medford, the agency's deputy director.
Cost. Separate studies by the NHTSA and the University of Alabama concluded that installing 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.
Seat belts would have to be phased in over a decade at a minimum cost of $117 million per state. That cost could be prohibitive, "especially when the nation is dealing with an economic downturn," the study said.
Safety. Numerous safety agencies say seat belts aren't the best choice for children, which is why nearly all states require container-like full car seats for younger kids in passenger cars.
"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," the NHTSA warnedin its study, adding that "increased capital costs, reduced seating capacities, and other unintended consequences associated with lap/shoulder belts could result in more children seeking alternative means of traveling to and from school."