Legislators should think before acting on school bus safety

19 January, 2001 - By Clint Hadden - Messenger-Inquirer

I have the hardest time getting my children to think before they act. It doesn't matter what they're doing -- playing a game, cleaning their rooms, doing their homework -- they never look further down the road than where they are. They could be two steps from falling off a cliff and never know it, because they don't think about what they're doing or where it will lead.

Of course, I know that's just the nature of kids. I'm sure as they grow older and see the trouble that comes from not thinking ahead, they'll learn to take a close look at a situation before making a decision.
That's what adults do, right?

A bill on the floor of the Kentucky General Assembly makes me wonder. It seems that after a growing clamor from the public capped by a tragic accident, the bill's sponsors have decided that Kentucky's school buses need seat belts.

I'm sure that at this point, you must be wondering which planet I grew up on. After all, at first glance the bill seems to make perfect sense, especially in light of the recent tragedy that took the life of a southern Kentucky girl. A driver loses control, a bus rolls down an embankment, a child is thrown from a window and crushed. Even I would admit that in that wreck, in that circumstance, a seat belt might have made a difference. Seat belts annually save thousands of lives in automobile accidents. What could possibly be wrong with having kids wear seat belts on a school bus?

I'll even go so far as to admit I don't know the answer to that question. What worries me is that, from what I've seen, the bill's sponsors don't know the answer, either. I can't help but wonder whether they've looked that far ahead. I worry that they've taken a single situation and jumped at the most obvious quick fix. How effective would seat belts be in other circumstances?

Think of another Kentucky bus tragedy. On May 14, 1988, Kentucky suffered what remains the worst bus accident ever in the United States. 24 children and three adults on a church outing from Radcliff died when the bus they were riding was struck head-on by a drunk driver heading the wrong way on Interstate 71 just outside Carrollton.

Although the bus involved in that accident was owned by a church rather than a school system, the incident led to the adoption of a number of safety measures for school buses in the state. Additional emergency exits were required along the side and roof of the bus. Maximum occupancy was reduced. The flashing white light was added to buses' roofs.

But nobody discussed adding seat belts in that round of changes. Would seat belts have made a difference in Carrollton?

Look at the facts of that night. The bus carried about 60 children ranging in age from 10 to 18, along with a number of chaperones. Many were asleep and didn't even notice the crash, which makes sense -- a bus carries a lot more mass than a pickup truck driven by a drunk. The crash would have made a lot of noise, but the bus wouldn't have experienced a sudden deceleration. The force of that crash didn't hurt a single child, but it was enough to push a piece of metal through the bus's fuel tank, causing a leak. The gasoline ignited. Sixty children and adults scrambled to get out the rear emergency exit, but overcrowding and an obstructed aisle slowed them down. In the two minutes it took for the bus to become completely engulfed in flames, 27 bodies fell on top of one another by the bus's exit.

Imagine how that night would have been different had those kids been wearing seat belts.

What if next time, instead of middle and high schoolers, the burning bus carries frightened first graders strapped to their seats because some well-meaning legislator failed to think ahead? Can we trust a panicked child to release a seat belt in that circumstance? Will a teacher, bus driver, or chaperone have time to unstrap those too frightened to act?

I admit, I'm no traffic safety expert. I may be jumping at shadows. The bus crash at Carrollton was just one of a thousand ways a bus can become involved in an accident. For all I know, seat belts may very well be the answer to increasing bus safety, and my concerns may be completely unfounded. But I'd rather not rush to make a decision which is later proven wrong by 27 deaths -- or worse.
Instead of acting for the sake of acting, why don't we take a few breaths, step back, and really examine the issue. Conduct a study or two. Find out what really causes the majority of school bus injuries, and then make a wise, informed decision as to what we need to do to prevent them. Then I'll be satisfied that we've done everything we can to insure the safety of our children.