While the opinions about lap/shoulder seatbelts in school buses continue to stir controversy, data tells the complete story


Written by Taylor Ekbatani | taylor@stnonline.com


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eatbelts not only save lives. They reduce injuries. That is the conclusion of new data out of California, which further qualifies recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).


Ron Kinney, who served as state director of school transportation for the California Department of Educa- tion from 1983-1997, compiled 30-years of crash data from the California Highway Patrol. It tracks the 10 years prior to and 20 years following a state law going into effect in 2004 that requires all newly purchased school buses to be equipped with lap/shoulder seatbelts—the first such law in the nation. The data released by Kinney last month shows a


74.5 percent decrease from the 2004-2005 through 2023-2024 school years in the absolute number of school pupil passenger injuries in school bus crashes,


34 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2026


compared to the 10 previous years dating back to 1994. Compared to “per million vehicle miles” traveled, three- point seatbelts have reduced on-board student injuries by 45.5 percent. That data indicates a high of 1,112 student injuries in 2000. Only 13 injuries were tallied during 2020-2021 and 100 injuries during 2021-2022, the height of COVID-19 shutdowns. The next fewest injuries were 131 during the 2023-2024 school year. No study or data currently exists that tracks nation-


wide school transportation injuries. A first of its kind study was published in November 2006 in the journal Pediatrics, which examined non-fatal school bus related injuries among children and teenagers. The report found that 51,100 school bus related injuries were treated in U.S. emergency rooms from 2001 through 2003, or


PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUE BIRD.


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