Refocusing On


Passenger Safety


Written by Taylor Hannon | taylor@stnonline.com Photos by Vincent Rios Creative


F


or many pupil transporters, school bus crashes are most often only heard about or investigated after the fact. Very few see the crash happen in real time, a testament to


school bus safety. Yet most in the industry know the destruction a school bus crash could cause to the district and surrounding community, es- pecially if it results in a fatality or serious injury. One of the industry’s most controversial


topics has been adding lap/shoulder seatbelts to school buses to better protect students in rollover and side impact crashes. In 2019, the


44 School Transportation News • JULY 2022


Iowa Pupil Transportation Association (IPTA) performed a controlled bus crash demonstra- tion to address child safety concerns. During the event, the IPTA found that it took 44 seconds for 36 children ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade who were wearing lap/shoulder belts to evacuate from a school bus, by using the front loading door and the rear emergency exit. Soon after, Iowa became latest state to man-


date the use of lap/shoulder seatbelts in buses. Then, COVID-19 took its toll, and the focus nationwide turned to sanitizing and cleaning


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64