Avon Lake City Schools' 2019 pilot program provides insights into the pros and cons of seat belts on school buses. AVON LAKE, Ohio – When Avon Lake City Schools updated its school bus fleet with two new buses equipped with seat belts for the 2019-2020 school year, transportation director Sue Cole approached the pilot program with an open mind.
As the issue gains momentum and becomes the subject of debate among national transportation organizations, local school districts and citizen advocacy groups, “The driver had to break the zipper and the seat belt to do it,” Cole said. “In that instance, the seat belt created a safety hazard. Drivers aren’t supposed to leave their seats, but what was she supposed to do? She had to get her out.”
Originally, one of the seat-belted buses was used for transporting high school students to vocational school. But the students were uncomfortable, with their knees hitting the backs of the seats directly in front of them. The bus was eventually swapped for one without seat belts. “They started to complain that they had to sit on their buckle, which was uncomfortable. There’s no way to move the center hook, so the larger kids started pushing the buckles down into their seats,” Cole said. “The next morning, the drivers would do their pre-trip checks and would have to go through and pull every single one of them out of the seats, which is not a quick or easy process.”
“This had nothing to do with the cost,” Cole said. “Even though it is costly when you have to replace seat belts, that wouldn’t have turned us away from getting more seat belt buses if we found that they increased kids’ safety. Unfortunately, that’s not what we found.”Avon Lake School District’s decision not to put seat belts in its larger buses complies with the recommendations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.