New Jersey could soon require Lap & Shoulder Belts on School Buses

New Jersey may soon require all new school buses to be equipped with three-point lap and shoulder seat belts.

“I’ve been trying for four years to pass common-sense legislation to protect students on school buses with three-point seat belts,” said Senator Sam Thompson (R-12). “It appears likely that upcoming legislative hearings on school bus safety will consider my proposal to give kids the same protections on a school bus that they have in their parent’s car. That’s the indication I’ve received from Senate leadership. It’s a welcome development.”

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released findings yesterday from a special investigation into school bus safety following a pair of deadly accidents in other states.

Among the NTSB’s findings was the recommendation that New Jersey amend its statutes to require school busses to be equipped with lap and shoulder seat belts. Current state law only requires lap belts in school buses.

Thompson noted that his legislation, S-233, complies with the NTSB’s recommendations by requiring new school buses to be equipped with three-point lap and shoulder seat belts.

“The NTSB’s recommendations confirm that the legislation I’ve proposed is the right approach to improve school bus safety for our children and other passengers,” said Thompson. “It’s hard to believe there would be any remaining doubt that this legislation should move forward.”

The NTSB’s findings were released just days after a 10-year-old student and a teacher from Paramus were killed when the school bus they were riding was involved in a serious highway accident. Virtually every passenger on the bus sustained some level of injury.

“We’ve known for decades that lap belts offer insufficient protection in certain kinds of crashes, and we’ve seen the tragic results time and again,” Thompson added. “We saw it in Chesterfield a few years ago, and again with the horrible accident last week. The solution is easy to implement and it will save lives and prevent injuries, so let’s do it.”

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12 COMMENTS

  1. This is great, but it will only work if bus monitors are allowed on the bus to enforce the rules. Knowing how kids behave on the bus, having the seat belts won’t actually help until someone makes sure they are worn.

  2. The seatbelts only help if the kids actually use them.

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bus in Lakewood where the kids are actually wearing seatbelts.

    Why isn’t that enforced? The drivers should not be moving until ALL of the kids are buckled!

  3. Children on buses should NOT wear seatbelts. Picture a bus full of primary children goes up in flames. Will the average bus driver go unstrap each and every child?

  4. stupid feel good legislation at work. i bet this senator never had a car full of kids. It is very probable that when there is a serious accident like the one last week, kids would still be hurt, has many kids would not wear the belt or worse, they can get stuck and not get out in time. also would they supply different size buster seats for kids of different heights???
    I am all for safety. but it needs to be grounded in reality.
    I think he should ban kids from crossing streets since there have been accidents you know…

  5. I thank it is a great idea and every bus should have an aid on them big and small buses with an aid it will help the drivers

  6. And how are seat belts going to prevent Bus Driver for doing stupid things?

    Testing older drivers that have bad driving records is a better idea.

    Because there is a shortage of drivers does not mean standards have to lowered to fill the need.

  7. The old law used to be that busses cannot have seatbelts because they will be used as weapons and children will be fighting. Why is this going to change anything ??

  8. This is not fixing what is unsafe about school busses. The problem is aggressive unsafe driving and kids crossing streets to get on and off busses. Did you ever hear of a child getting hurt on a bus because of not being seat belted? This is a waste of energy.

  9. The only thing I’v seen the seat belts being used for is to connect them to the one of the seat across the aisle and trip kids

  10. Great! And they all need a GPS tracker! There are so many times that my childs bus is late and the bus company can’t reach the driver? How is this safe??

Comments are closed.