Former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne believes it is time that Ontario school buses are equipped with three-point seatbelts and that is why she has introduced a private members’ bill that, if passed, would see three-point seatbelts in all new school buses by 2020 and retrofits for all existing school buses by 2025.
Wynne decided to introduce the legislation following CBC’s Fifth Estate investigation, which calls into the validity of a Transport Canada 1984 study that was the basis for a decades-long campaign against the use of seatbelts on school buses. Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau has also ordered a review of the file. And so do I, except that I would make it nation-wide.
I for one never believed Transport Canada’s explanation that the occupants of school buses, or any other vehicle, were safer by not wearing a device that prevented you from becoming a human version of a pinball game because of school bus design, or more specifically its seats.
In 1984, Transport Canada conducted a study where they used crash test dummies, simulating children of various ages, and put them into a speeding school bus ramming it into a wall.
By doing this, they concluded that the compartmentalized, high-backed seats, padded and closely spaced together seat design of school buses was the best way to protect students.
And they aren’t the only ones.
The Canadian Safety Council (CSC), an independent not-for-profit organization, agrees, stating on its website that ‘school buses are not passenger vehicles. They are built to rely on passive safety, not on seat belts, and are designed and constructed differently from passenger cars. They are bigger, heavier, and sit higher off the ground. Newer systems, such as an anti-lock braking system would be more beneficial.’
It is unclear if the (CSC) has taken into account a 2010 Transport Canada (TC) which discovered compartmentalized seating does not provide occupants adequate protection, especially when it comes to side collisions, which were not included in the initial study.
My first thought is probably not, as the study for some reason wasn’t made public until the aforementioned CBC report.
However, that being said, the solution to improving school bus passenger safety might not be as easy as retrofitting the existing fleet with seatbelts, assuming the funding is available. Last year, Pembina Hills Public Schools ran a transportation deficit.
In a Globe and Mail interview from February, David Carroll, Legislation and Safety Consultant to the Ontario School Bus Association, said there is more to it than just slapping in some seatbelts.
If there are seat belts on a school bus, TC recommends three-point belts, but seats would have to be redesigned to have stiffer seat backs to support the shoulder belts.
“With firmer seat backs, you no longer have the same protection in that compartment. So any kids who aren’t wearing seat belts won’t be as protected in a crash as they are now,” he said.
And, somebody would have to make sure kids are wearing their seatbelts, and that the belts are adjusted to fit properly.
All that being said, I hope seatbelts become mandatory for school buses because, after all this time, I think we all know seatbelts save lives.
