The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SEATBELTS FOR INCREASED BUS SAFETY” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E318 on Feb. 24, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SEATBELTS FOR INCREASED BUS SAFETY
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HON. TED POE
of texas
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, most of us are aware of the bus accidents that have been occurring around the country. Two years ago there was a fatal bus accident involving the Westbrook High School girls' soccer team in Beaumont, Texas. Just this year, there was an accident in Sherman, Texas, which involved several Vietnamese community members. Similar incidents occurred in Liberty, Missouri, Arlington, Virginia, New York City, and New Orleans, to name a few.
These tragic bus accidents demonstrate that school bus safety reform is an urgent issue. While school buses are among the safest mode of transportation, these re-occurring accidents are unacceptable. School buses need to be safer.
The widespread bus crashes have sparked a comeback in the idea of seatbelts in buses. Seatbelts raise the issue of whether they would increase bus safety.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, Texas safety belt use has topped 90%, this being the third year in a row. The majority of people in Texas are wearing their seatbelts in cars and trucks. But few to no passengers are wearing their seatbelts in school buses! Currently, there is no federal mandate on seatbelts in buses.
Every state, except New Hampshire, requires by law that car and truck drivers and passengers wear seatbelts. This is because seatbelts work--
they increase a passenger's chance of survival in a crash. In short, seatbelts save lives.
If laws require passengers of cars and trucks to wear seatbelts, why are there no requirements for buses to even include seatbelts? In many states there are variations of ``Click it or Ticket'' policies that threaten motorists who don't wear seatbelts, yet no such laws apply to the buses that carry our children and community members on a daily basis.
Certainly, buses are made very different from cars and trucks. For one, buses can carry many more passengers than any car. Some of these differences might lead one to believe that there should not be a mandate on seatbelts in buses. These differences have not stopped bus drivers from being required to wear seatbelts. So why not for school bus passengers as well?
Some claim that seatbelts may not be properly worn by passengers or cause injury. If anything, it shows that seatbelts should be made better. However, to completely disregard seatbelts as a safety precaution is absurd.
The answer appears to be that of common sense. While seatbelts are in no way a quick fix and there are many questions surrounding seatbelts in buses, they should be looked into as one of the very many necessary measures taken to ensure school bus safety.
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