COLUMBUS, Ohio — Leaders from across the state met on Monday to discuss school bus safety for the second time.
The Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group was formed more than a month ago after a school bus crash in Clark County killed one student and injured several others. The group is made up of a variety of educators from across the state.
Monday’s meeting focused around a presentation by a representative from the National Transportation Safety Board. The current recommendation from the NTSB is that passenger car-style seat belts on large safety buses would enhance the safety of the vehicles.
“Properly-worn lap-shoulder belts provide the best protection for large school bus passengers in all crash types,” said Dr. Kristin Poland with the NTSB. “They keep the children within the seating compartment before and during the crash and are very effective at preventing ejection.”
There was also a focus on what is called “compartmentalization” in school buses. The height, size, and spacing of the seats are so students are protected during crash. However, NTSB findings showed that this only really works in a front or rear crash and does nothing in a sideways crash or rollover. Students are still thrown from their seats in those instances.
Not everyone was on board with the idea of adding seat belts to buses. Melodie Coniglio, Ohio Association of Pupil Transportation, expressed concern that seat belts would further endanger a student in a crash. She feared it would trap a student in a crash or keep the student from being pushed out of the way of the crash.
Poland said they found that students on buses without seat belts were sometimes thrown into the impact whereas students with seat belts were pushed with the seat out of the way.
Another person was concerned with the lack of available data on adding seat belts to school buses.
“We haven’t had enough studies to see what it’s like to have seat belts on school buses for a long time. What are the maintenance issues? What are the other things that go with it,” said Doug Palmer, Ohio School Boards Association.
The School Bus Safety Working Group will meet four more times this year before making their final recommendations to the state.