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Thursday, January 26, 2017

Maryland Among States Eyeing School Bus Seat Belts

BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) — Maryland is one of more than a dozen states where school seat belt measures are on the legislative agenda this year.

A bill that would require school buses to have seat belts is being considered by lawmakers in Washington. It would mandate that all public and private school buses purchased after the bill takes effect have a safety belt for each rider.

California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas have existing variations of a seat belt law for school buses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At least 17 states, including Washington, have introduced legislation regarding seat belts on school buses in the 2017 sessions.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approximately 23.5 million children use school buses to get to and from school and school-related activities. On average, six school-age children die each year in school bus crashes as passengers.

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14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Makes sense to have seat belts. Should have been done years ago.

Anonymous said...

Now who is gonna make sure that they put seat belts on.... Now a days Teens don't put them on in the car why on busses... So will the bus driver have to check each student on each stop? If you think your child's Safety is a threat then take your own child to school.

Anonymous said...

What's taking so long to put seat belts in school buses?

Anonymous said...

Do you honestly think all kids will listen when they say buckle up? Some of the kids walk around while the bus in motion despite the pleas from the driver..It's laughable to think they all will. And, God forbid there is an accident and a child is hurt, they will blame the driver for not making sure they were buckled in...
Good Luck with this.

Anonymous said...

My Mother actually asked Gov. Schaefer why didn't MD school buses have seatbelts. According to old man Schaefer? "Kids would be hanging like sides of beef in a rollover."

Anonymous said...

Your kids aren't safe unless the DRIVER of the bus follows ALL Vehicle laws! The bus drivers in Wicomico county break those laws everyday!

Anonymous said...

I worry about the little kids. If there is an emergency will they be able to unbuckle and get off the bus in a hurry. The bus driver won't be able to help that many kids unbuckle and get off the bus. Remember the bus that caught fire last year? They driver and children barely got off the bus in time.

Anonymous said...

This is just more liberal government overreach. Before long, the big-government Demonrats will force us to hire more people -- who will probably be unionized, so at high salaries for a do-nothing job -- to make sure that the seat belts are fastened. Wake up, people! The sooner we can get rid of all worthless Demonrats, the better this state will be!!

Anonymous said...

long overdue.

lmclain said...

MORE overreaction from handwringing girlie boys who can't wait to get off work so they can chaange into something frilly with lace.
SIX (!) kids are killed each year out of TWENTY THREE MILLION riders??? and we'll now spend MILLIONS and write a thousand page set of regs (with fines and fee, too) to stop the deaths of six people???
Might as well put seat belt on tricycles while we're at it, because more than six kids are killed every year on those killing machines.

Anonymous said...

What if one of those 6 kids where your kids Hypocrite

Anonymous said...

5:27

And after spending these millions and millions it won't change the death rate at all! Just feel good laws written by idiots that don't know what real life is.

You want to save children's lives? Get rid of mega campus government schools!

How about small neighborhood schools? Maybe a hundred students each. We wouldn't need to multi million dollar Taj Mahals that need to be staffed by $500,000 per year idiots!

Anonymous said...

Ever wonder y all school buses have Yellow stobe lights google it ...idiot.

Anonymous said...

Just wait until a bunch of injured kids have to be removed from a burning school bus someday. Then see how much sense a bus seat belt law makes. That would be a dumb and dangerous law.