efforts if students are belted in. Meanwhile, Oakland Schools in Waterford, Michigan
has three-point seatbelts on its smaller Type A buses as mandated by federal and state law, especially those serv- ing students with special needs. Students need to use a seatbelt to stay in their seat or be otherwise secured with a harness or child restraint. On some Type C buses, seatbelts in the first two bench
seats provide a means of keeping younger students in their seats, although some won’t stay buckled, explained Thomas Korth, Oakland’s transportation supervisor. He said he also believes compartmentalization keeps
students safe, and with crashes being rare and injury and fatality numbers low, seatbelt use should be up to individ- ual districts or states. Instead of mandating seatbelt use, he argued, the focus should be on studying why crashes happen and provide more training for drivers and students.
Research Says Otherwise But during a presentation in September to the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group, an NTSB expert said compartmentalization only works in certain circum- stances. Dr. Kristin Poland, deputy director of NTSB’s Office of Highway Safety, noted that compartmentaliza- tion protects properly seated occupants in closely spaced
and energy absorbing seats during a front or rear impact. “When we see severe side impact crashes or in rollover crashes, there’s nothing to keep the child within the pro- tection of the seating compartment,” Poland added. She said properly worn lap/shoulder belts provide the
best protection for large school bus passengers in all crash types by keeping children within the seating com- partment before and during crash dynamics, preventing ejection. Seatbelts also reduce injury, especially to the head, allowing self-evacuation. NTSB’s crash investigations as well as crash tests per-
formed at the likes of the IMMI Center for Advanced Product Evaluation in Indiana show that when the oc- cupant is thrown from their seating compartment, they impact objects that will not absorb energy, namely bus sidewalls, interior roof, seat edges, and other occupants. The result can be serious and sometimes fatal injuries. NTSB notes that development of well-designed lap/
shoulder belts could fit all school bus occupant ages and sizes. In 1999, NTSB issued recommendations to NHTSA to require occupant protection systems accounting for all types of crashes, recognizing that compartmentaliza- tion only addresses front or rear impact crashes but not side impacts or rollovers. In 2008, NHTSA issued a final rule effective in 2011 re-
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