Those whose fully loaded weight is more than 10,000 pounds are not, though some states and individual school districts require seat belts in those vehicles. This produces an estimated 5.5 billion student trips annually. The largest school buses (Types C and D) have GVWRs of 24,000 pounds or more. Compartmentalization has been found to be effective in protecting school bus passengers in head-on collisions. It is less effective at protecting passengers in side-collisions or roll-over accidents, when occupants may be thrown out of their compartments, or at protecting passengers when they are not properly seated. NHTSA has announced that it is planning to propose: standardized test procedures for voluntary installed lap/shoulder belts; an increase in the required school bus seat back height (from the current standard of 20 inches above the level of the seat to 24 inches, to reduce the risk of a passenger striking the passenger in the seat ahead); and that smaller (Type II) school buses, currently required to have lap belts, be required to have lap/shoulder belts. Potential Safety Benefits of Seat Belts in Large School Buses

Several studies have examined the potential safety benefits of seat belts in large school buses. Potential Impacts of Requiring Seat Belts on Large School Buses

Proponents of requiring seat belts on large school buses include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, the National PTA, and others. They note that compartmentalization is designed primarily to protect occupants in front- and rear-end collisions, and provides limited protection in side-impact collisions and rollover accidents, as well as limited protection even in front- and rear-end collisions to students who are not properly seated. Others, including the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services and the National School Transportation Association, caution against requiring that school buses be equipped with seat belts. At the same time, the resulting reduction in school bus seating capacity might increase the risk to students who were displaced from school buses to more dangerous forms of transportation, unless significant additional resources were made available to maintain the overall bus fleet seating capacity. Proponents of requiring seat belts on school buses contend that estimates of the cost of adding seat belts to school buses should take into account the costs of not having seat belts on school buses. The federal government does not generally provide funding for school transportation. Usage

For lap/shoulder belts to reduce the already small number of deaths of school bus occupants each year, they would need to be widely used and used correctly. Between the federal mandate for seat belts on Type II school buses and the actions of individual school districts and some states, already as much as 35% of the nation's total school bus fleet is required to have some form of seat belt (though the percentage actually equipped with seat belts is less than that, since California and Florida have not fully equipped their fleets yet). NHTSA has estimated that such a requirement could potentially save an average of one life, and prevent some proportion of serious injuries, each year in frontal crashes, assuming 100% proper usage, and could also reduce fatalities and injuries in non-frontal crashes. Encourage the Purchase of Large School Buses with Lap/Shoulder Belts

Since 1999 several states have required that large school buses be equipped with seat belts.
It is estimated that 25% of student trips to schoolâ5.5 billion trips each yearâare made on school buses. Nationwide, an average of seven school bus passengers die each year in crashes. Buses have the lowest death rate of any mode of transporting children to school in the United States.
Federal safety standards for school buses, established in 1977, require seat belts only on buses whose fully loaded weight is less than 10,000 pounds (Type II), but not on buses whose fully loaded weight is more than 10,000 pounds (Type I). The vast majority of Type I school buses weigh 24,000 pounds or more when fully loaded. In addition to their greater mass and structural safety features, these large school buses employ compartmentalizationâa passive protection system that uses padded, high-backed seats spaced closely together in rowsâto protect passengers. Compartmentalization has been found to be an effective system in protecting passengers in front- and rear-end crashes, provided the passengers are properly seated, but it is less effective in protecting them in side-impact and rollover crashes, when they may be thrown out of the compartments.
The occupant protection value of seat belts on large school buses has been debated for decades. Advocates contend that seat belts would reduce injuries to and deaths of passengers, in part through keeping them within their compartments in side-impact and rollover crashes. These advocates, who include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, and the National PTA, also contend that seat belts would provide other benefits, including improving student behavior on buses and reducing distractions to drivers, as well as reinforcing use of seat belts that might increase seat belt use in other vehicles. Others, including the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services and the National Association of School Transportation, caution against requiring that seat belts be installed on large school buses. They note that studies have found that adding seat belts to large school buses is not a cost-effective safety improvement. These studies indicate that lap belts may provide no net safety benefit, and lap/shoulder belts might save one or two lives and prevent several serious injuries each year, at an annual cost of hundreds of millions of dollars for adding the belts. Also, since adding lap/shoulder belts can reduce the seating capacity of large school buses, some students might be displaced from school buses to more dangerous forms of transportation unless additional buses have been purchased to maintain existing seating capacity, further increasing the cost of the requirement. Given the relatively small number of deaths to school bus passengers, these observers contend that other measures could have greater safety benefits for school children.
Several states have passed laws requiring that large school buses be equipped with lap belts, with the result that perhaps as much as 35% of the nation's school bus fleet is already required to have some form of seat belts; only California currently requires the safer and more expensive lap/shoulder belts. Federal funding is generally not available to help communities purchase school buses. This report will not be updated.