Aside from the greater mass making ejection more difficult. If there’s a fire, evacuating 30 or so kids is going to be much harder when you have to get them out of their seatbelts.
That happened in Ohio. I’ve seen the interviews with witnesses talking about listening to kids screaming while they burned alive in the middle of the interstate.
You forgot about the fact that buses have bigger windows and the passengers inside them, kids in this case, have smaller mass. Therefore I would argue that the chances of ejection are not less than a typical car.
Plus, pretty sure those old big muscle cars and luxury cars had more mass than a typical family hatchback and guess why we still got seatbelts?
When we say school bus it’s an “everyone has a seat and is sat down” scenario.
With that established, I’m going to tell you that pretty much every EU country that runs school buses of that scenario does have seatbelts. We definitely do in the UK.
It clearly is possible. I’m not saying that the busses aren’t otherwise built for safety in every way like many other commenters are saying, and maybe they wouldn’t even provide extra benefit (which I doubt, but I see some commenters are citing studies), but it is definitely possible to add and realistic for kids to use seatbelts.
Buses are not required to have seatbelts because they have a far greater mass than a car, making it harder to, you know, fling people out of a window/into the seat in front of them when a crash occurs, which is what seatbelts are designed to prevent. Oh, and you really think a single bus driver can make 20-30 kids keep their seatbelts on during the ride to school? This is mission control, please come back to Earth.
The seatbelt isn’t there just to keep you from flying through the windshield in a crash. It also keeps you in the proper seating position so you can reach the controls at all times, and reduces fatigue because you don’t need to brace yourself as much when going around corners or over bumps.
The driver has a seatbelt because they are not sandwiched between seats explicitly designed to absorb energy and reduce injury. They have a steering column, dashboard, and windshield in front of them. There is no irony in their username, just ignorance on your part for speaking about a topic you know nothing about.
You’re arguing that it’s better not to have seatbelts because the driver can’t guarantee that 100% of the students will buckle up? That’s hilarious.
Semis have a greater mass than a bus, yet the driver and passenger both have seat belts. Other countries put seat belts on their busses. I’d love to see some data backing up your argument.
People like making up reasons and presenting it as fact on the internet lol, but actually working in a school, here are the real main reasons. Busses are compartmentalized and busses have padding everywhere on the seats and they’re densely packed so it’s usually safe enough without belts if kids get flung around. They also typically drive slower than cars and no seatbelts make evacuations easier and faster for students. They are also very heavy. I’ve been in a bus that’s been hit before and it was like someone just slightly shook the bus while the car’s headlight was busted. The paperwork being done took longer than taking us home. The last reason is probably the most believable, but it’s to cut costs, too. Busses with belts can range $8-15k more expensive and school faculty members are underpaid enough already.
Full shoulder belts are impractical in full sized school busses, and lap belts have proven to be as harmful as they are helpful. Smaller van-type busses are typically equipped with shoulder belts now, because they are smaller and occupants are more likely to be ejected from a seat in an impact.
Full size busses are designed to prevent this, and are quite safe. Seat belts have been used in full sized busses in the past, and they were found to be more likely to cause harm by either entrapping a passenger or causing direct damage to the hips, upper legs, lower spine, and abdominal organs. Seat belt entrapment has been considered as a possible factor in the deaths of passengers killed in busses that caught fire.
This is still very much a controversial topic. There are certainly instances where seatbelts may have prevented deaths and injuries, but by and large, school busses are one of the safest modes of transportation on the road in the United States. Numerous studies have been done on this subject. Almost any time a bus accident happens that gets significant coverage, people start demanding answers about “why didn’t that bus have any seatbelts?”, and the results are pretty much the same every time: because in the long run, they don’t improve anything. Everything else about a school bus is designed to protect the occupants.
I recommend really looking into this subject yourself. It seems counterintuitive, but when you see the data for yourself, it makes sense.
NTSB seems to think seatbelts would be an upgrade to just having compartmentalization and provide children with better internal safety. Thanks for making me look into it!
Sounds more like a lot of effort went into fabricating excuses to not make that expense, excuses which are directly contradicted by the National Transportation Safety Board:
School buses use a unique technology called compartmentalization—a passive occupant protection system to protect children in crash. School bus seats are made with an energy-absorbing steel inner structure and high, padded seat backs, and are secured to the school bus floor. Students are protected within the seating compartment much like eggs in a carton. Through our crash investigations, we have found that, compartmentalization alone is not enough to prevent all injuries and that for some of the children involved, a seat belt could have lessened their injuries or even saved their lives.
As a result of our school bus crash investigations, we believe—and have recommended—that, when investing in new school buses, the purchased vehicles should provide children with the best protection available, which includes lap/shoulder seat belts.
The way people treat school buses on the road is despicable. Every illegal pass of a stopped school bus should be punished far more harshly, if someone can’t stop for a bus filled with kids they don’t deserve to be on the road at all.
I’m a school bus driver and last year someone drove around my bus on the left while my 8-ways were on and the stop sign was out and hit a student who was crossing the street after exiting the bus, bumping her in the shoulder and running over her foot. I got the plate number but the cops did nothing with it. Passing the bus in the opposite direction is something I even expect these days (although it’s still illegal of course) since people are too busy looking at their phones to pay attention, but going around a lit-up bus in the same direction means seeing a stopped school bus and then consciously deciding “fuck them kids”.
Fortunately, the girl was not hurt somehow, but it still made me want to fuck that driver up bad.
Horrible to hear about the incident and the fact that the police did not care. In my mind school buses should be the most protected vehicles on the road, treated the same way as first responders.
They said that with only the plate number and not a sighting of who was driving, they couldn’t charge anybody. I talked to the girl who was run over and she said she saw the driver very clearly. I relayed this to the police and they still did nothing.
I mean it was a pretty…uh… bad joke. As in. not funny.
even in the article, it sounds like he noticed the cadaver dog was wearing booties and commented on it. (booties to keep their paws safe going through rubble.)
Current full- and part-time union workers are guaranteed a $2.75 hourly pay increase this year, the Teamsters said, amounting to a $7.50 hourly increase through the duration of the contract. Pay for existing and starting part-time workers will be raised to at least $21 an hour immediately, advancing to $23 per hour.
Current part-timers also won longevity wage increases of up to $1.50 an hour. Wage increases for full-time drivers would bring their average top rate to $49 an hour, the union said.
UPS workers also secured hard-fought heat safety protections, including a plan to bring air conditioning to the company’s iconic brown delivery vehicles for the first time. The Teamsters have hailed the changes as a major breakthrough after years of complaints that working in hot weather has grown more dangerous as climate change fuels extended stretches of record high temperatures across the country.
This doesn’t fix everything, but perfection is the enemy of progress. This is worth celebrating if you care about non-wealthy Americans.
In the face of overzealous judicial rulings and zero help from Congress, this policy helps over 800,000 struggling, older Americans resolve long standing debt that they made payments on for 20 or 25 years.
These aren’t free loaders or wealthy individuals. Nor are they committing fraud to accept disaster loans aimed at keeping paychecks afloat.
They are former students. That’s it. Something that the US covers for K-12th grade as one of its earliest ground-breaking policies. The rest of the developed world took that through college, the US decided to create a bloated system of indentured servitude instead.
No, this doesn’t stop new borrowers from taking on loans. And it doesn’t stop education providers from overcharging. These are real problems that deserve attention.
But it is still a step showing that at least some federal officials care to try to resolve the issues plaguing some of those who did nothing more than try to improve their situation and gain valuable training with far reaching benefits.
GI Bill students still taking loans to get through school, while working full time. Source? Am one. It’s absolutely outrageous, the cost of both school and living.
“The borrowers involved in the plans targeted for the new forgiveness include those with Direct Loans or Federal Family Education Loans held by the department, including Parent PLUS loans. Many of the borrowers affected are likely 50 or older. About 9.2 million borrowers fall into this category.”
No research done outside of reading the article, but this line makes it seem like it will be mostly older people benefitting. Although the 9.2M number seems pretty high to be people mostly 50+. If that is the case, it’s hardly a win for a generation most affected by student loan debt.
Steps are great and all, and I would never argue against a step in the right direction. However, at some point, we need to raise the bar of expectation on federal officials past the smallest step of advancement reasonably possible. At this point we’ve heard how “we’re taking steps towards true universal healthcare” for some voters entire lives and while many, tiny, steps of advancement have been made we’re not too much closer to the goal being sold to us.
Long ramble short, If people are content with just a step and not a solution, even an advancing step, the government will try and wait out this issue for as long as possible. It’s not unjust to demand more given their history.
I hear you. Much bigger steps are needed and hopefully the younger generations who have been priced out of housing, hit with insanely low wage growth, and took out student loans to cover much higher education costs will start to obtain benefits sooner rather than later. They deserve it.
It doesn’t help me, my wife or anyone that I personally know in my peer group. No, it’s not nothing but it’s not at all what we meant when we asked for it and it’s certainly not enough. It is just enough, however, to say “well, we tried” and add this onto their list of accomplishments for the upcoming election.
I’m getting pretty tired of having to settle for literal scraps because the Democrats “tried really hard”.
No, and I don’t really care, either. The same people tell me to “figure it out” and “that’s just the way it is”, but I’m supposed to let these guys off the hook? Republicans never seem to have to make this argument about their party, why do the Democrats time and time again have to bend the knee to these idiots…they don’t.
I’m just frustrated. I have been with my party for what seems like a long time now. It’s always the Republicans fault, and I’m just getting a little tired of hearing it.
So let him buy his food from the commissary. The prison doesn’t serve potatoes? You can live off potatoes alone for a long time. Is there juice, cereal, rice, or beans? I find it hard to believe there isn’t. He’s clearly exaggerating the limits of his diet.
It’s jail. You don’t get to go where you want, do what you want, wear what you want, or eat what you want. You don’t get to make choices about your life. That is part of the punishment.
You haven’t been proven guilty of anything when you’re in jail. it should not be punitive. Innocent until proven guilty.
When he gets to prison, by all means go ahead (I mean I believe in rehabilitation not retribution but that’s personal); until then why not treat him like a human?
You should look at what prisoners get to eat in France. Here in Spain prisoners wear their own clothes, only guards wear uniforms.
I believe the idea of prison should be that you are punished by you’re freedom of movement being taken away. Not by being forced to eat inedible food or food that goes against your moral code.
Therein lies the philosophical question, is prison about punishment or rehabilitation? Dehumanising these people and telling them their beliefs and practices don’t matter isn’t going to make them want to return as a reformed member of society.
Prison is both punishment and rehabilitation. The essence of it is to teach the prisoner to follow rules. Eating what you are told to eat is child-level rules following and he still can’t do it.
It’s a lot easier to avoid eating one specific meat than all meats and animal products. Those are also religious restrictions which are protected. His veganism is an arbitrary choice he made, not an external religious mandate. You might as well expect the jail to give him nothing but chocolate cake because that is what he chooses.
Exactly. While he might have to find alternative sources of protein by forgoing meat there is obviously going to be ample stuff on the menu he can eat. If he claims he’s living off bread and water, he is either an extraordinarily picky eater, or more likely just a liar out for some sympathy.
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