School Bus Crash Test With Seatbelts And Without [VIDEO]

With the 2019-2020 school year officially underway in Acadiana, many parents are having to say goodbye to their children every morning as they put their children on school buses. How safe are these big yellow taxis that carry our precious cargo?

School buses are large, yellow and higher off the ground than most vehicles on the road but are they safe?  The big concern over the years has been the use of seatbelts.  From a technical perspective, school bus seats are designed to protect children in the event of a crash.  But the question at school board meetings nationally has been, would seatbelts add another level of protection?

The National Safety Administration has conducted test after test and to date, the research claims installing seatbelts is not worth the cost.  The cost is more than the benefits.  One of the main issues is that seatbelts could cause a child to become trapped in a school bus after a water or fiery crash.

School bus seats are designed to absorb the impact of a crash.  In Lafayette Parish, like in almost every other city in the country, seatbelts are not required on school buses carrying children without disabilities.  However, children with special concerns and needs are required to wear seatbelts in the parish.

So that you can see for yourself, the video above is a school bus crash test from about a month ago conducted by officials in Iowa.  In the test, you can see for yourself what happens to children during a bus crash.  Some of the crash test dummies are wearing seatbelts and some aren't.

[Via:  KCCI]