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Two
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Awards center on service to the community
Cingular Wireless eyes Dundee spots for
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Sex crime in the community: Looking for
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Will a click do the trick on school buses? |
State Rep. Donna Nelson will ask the legislature to
mandate seatbelts on buses |
By Schellene
Clendenin,
Newberg Graphic reporter
E-mail Schellene at
sclendenin@eaglenewspapers.com
|
Anytime a school bus filled with students is involved in an
accident, invariably someone will ask: “Why are there no seatbelts?”
On Jan. 10 a First Student school bus filled with 28 Chehalem
Valley Middle School students swerved and slid into a ravine on
Niederberger Road. The only seatbelt on that bus was strapped around
the driver.
That accident is one of the reasons state Rep. Donna Nelson
sponsored House Bill 2502. The bill would require school districts
or bus service contractors like First Student to outfit their buses
with safety belts. The legislature heard arguments on the bill March
25.
“We contract bus services through (First Student),” said Claire
Hertz, director of business services for the Newberg School
District. “They already have seatbelts in the smaller vans, but the
big busses are designed to ride without seatbelts.”
Nelson characterized the bill as responding to a safety issue.
“I’m amazed (seatbelts are) its not required,” she said. “It’s an
absolute miracle no one was seriously hurt in Dundee. The price of a
seatbelt doesn’t begin to compare with the value of a life.”
But Steve Hewitt, a consultant for the people transportation
department with the Oregon Department of Education, said
compartmentalization, not seatbelts, is the construction standard
for busses. Compartmentalization includes the high-backed, heavily
padded seats on busses, as well as the distance between the seats,
making injuries in forward crashes less likely and less severe.
“A child going forward would hit the back of the seat (ahead of him
or her) and bounce back,” Hewitt said. Transportation departments do
not approve of lap belts, which can cause secondary injuries by
holding children down by the waist, allowing their necks to snap
back or causing internal damage.
Right now only Florida, New York and New Jersey require seatbelts
on school busses, Hewitt said. Florida may soon rescind its law and
students are not mandated to wear the belts in New York.
Lap and shoulder belts are expensive to retrofit and the amount of
seats available on each bus drops when they are put in place. Hewitt
also said the current system sufficiently protects the students.
“We’ve seen accidents nationwide in which busses rolled over,”
Hewitt said. “Injuries are usually minor cuts and scratches.”
In 2005 the average cost for a full-sized conventional bus with a
capacity of 84 students is $86,000. The ODE has not yet estimated
the cost of retrofitting busses with seatbelts.
Nelson said there will be money available for retrofitting buses in
the state transportation fund. The money would cover 70 percent of
costs to make the change.
“It’s amazing that we take those extra efforts with adults and with
children of certain sizes, heights and ages, but not always on
busses,” she said.
First Student owns and operates 45 school busses in the Newberg
area, said Marvin Babb, manager. He said he had not heard about the
bill, but added that safety systems currently available on buses are
far better than they would be if students were anchored to a seat
with lap belts.
“Overall children are safer without safety belts because of the
design,” Babb said, “There are more kids killed in cars when their
parents are taking them to school.”
In addition to the accident in Dundee, First student buses have
been involved in at least two accidents in the past 12 months. At
about 2 p.m. Oct. 5 on Hancock and Elliott streets, a school bus
turned into a 1996 red Honda Civic. At 7:45 a.m. Jan. 7, on Gemini
and Victoria streets, a school bus ran into a parked truck. No
injuries were reported in either accident. |
|
From
April 9, 2005, Newberg Graphic
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