tion Studies at Ohio State University, also spoke to the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group in September. “We know lap-and-shoulder belts prevent injuries by reducing the risk of occupants becoming projectiles and striking surfaces within the bus, and they also prevent students from being ejected from the bus entirely,” she said. “Ejection carries a high mortality rate, and sadly ejection was a major factor in the death of 11-year-old Aiden Clark in August.” Echoing NTSB’s assertions, Mansfield noted that
seatbelts can speed up the evacuations after a crash by re- ducing the risk of head strikes and concussions. Students who remain conscious and coherent can self-evacuate a bus quickly and under their own power, she added. Charles Vits, an occupant protection support consul-
tant for IMMI, said CAPE crash test findings affirm the safest way to provide occupant protection in a vehicle is using a lap/shoulder seatbelt restraint system. “A passenger inside a vehicle will continue at that same
rate of speed as the vehicle even when the vehicle is stopped by some other object in a crash,” he comment- ed. “The passenger will continue their motion until also stopped by some object, whether it is the seat back in front of the passenger, the interior surface of the bus, or best and safest, a lap/shoulder belt passenger restraint system.”
What determines the extent of the injury to the pas- senger is how the energy of the passenger is managed when that passenger is being stopped, Vits added. NTSB’s Poland noted that driver distraction also de-
creases with seatbelt use, as the systems keep all children properly seated and less prone or physically able to misbehave. “There’s less motion inside the bus and fewer children
moving around,” she observed. “There’s less need for the drivers to have to keep the students properly seated.” Student behavior management is a significant benefit,
added Vits. Bartholomew Consolidated School Cor- poration in Columbus, Indiana reported a 90-percent reduction in behavior write-ups in its first year of imple- menting lap/shoulder seatbelts on its buses, with other schools in the state reporting similar improvement. That also results in on-time bus schedules, Vits added. “Drivers can focus on their driving tasks, resulting in
safer rides,” he said. “Driver retention is increased, re- ducing the challenge to districts to find new drivers and train them. Even the administrative costs associated with each write-up is reduced, saving a district funds that can be used elsewhere.” ●
Ryan Gray contributed to this report.
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