Are Seat Belts On School Buses A Good Idea?

Canadian Press

Transport Canada is putting down guidelines for seat belts on school buses, saying it would improve safety for children caught up in severe crashes.

Currently buses are required to have high-back padded seats closely spaced together to protect riders without the need for seat belts.

There are no requirements for seat belts on any size of school bus, meaning there is no way to ensure that seat belts put on some buses are installed safely and correctly.

There hasn’t been a single child fatality on a school bus in Canada since 2008 and only one per cent of all school-age child fatalities in the previous decade were on a school bus.

Transport Canada says children are over 16 times more likely to be killed walking to school than while riding a school bus.