The Advocate – Charles Lussier
“School buses are widely acknowledged as the safest way for children to get to and from school, but the nation’s top highway safety agency now says they’d be safer still if they all had seat belts and children used them, a dramatic about-face for the agency. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stopped short of requiring public schools to start buying seat belts for all buses, but the agency’s new stance is nonetheless jarring. During its 45-year history, NHTSA has repeatedly looked into the issue and concluded that school buses were already very safe and that the safety gains from adding seat belts weren’t worth the expense. Louisiana is one of six states with laws on the books requiring all school buses to have seat belts. The Legislature, however, never appropriated money to implement the law, approved in 1999. So buses in the state continue to roll without the safety devices.”(more)