Henrico Cty, VA (Richmond) Adds Seat Belts to Their School Buses

Based on internal school district, concern and recommendations/reports from the two federal agencies, i.e. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) responsible for school bus safety, another school district has voluntarily started to install lap shoulder seat belts in all its new school buses. Like Beachwood, Ohio, Henrico County School District near Richmond, Virginia voluntarily decided to purchase all their new school buses with lap-shoulder seat belts and incorporate the new buses into their existing fleet starting in the 2017-18 school year. Their Director of Pupil Transportation, Josh Davis concluded and the District agreed that seat belts provide an extra layer of safety for both the rare severe crashes like rollovers and side impacts as well as preventing injuries in the more minor bus accidents. The District now has 24 fully equipped buses added to their 600 bus fleet at an additional cost of $9,200 per 77-passenger "Thomas" built school bus. To shorten the turnover time, the District expects to accelerate the purchase of new buses over the next few years. The District has provided training for the students and drivers on proper seat belt use to add to their daily car riding habits and has conducted emergency evacuation drills twice a year. When asked about any possible delay in evacuation caused by unfastening the seat belts during an emergency, Director Davis indicated that the enhanced crash protection of lap-shoulder seat belts outweighs the perceived risk of a hindered evacuation for which no evidence exists anywhere in the US.

* http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/...

For more information see: http://schoolbusseatbeltsafety... or contact rudybreglia@gmail.com