Throughout my entire educational experience, I noticed that our local school buses lack certain safety features that would otherwise ensure our children’s safety while riding to and from school.

By far, the most important precaution that is overlooked is the seatbelt requirements on school buses.

We fail to realize the importance of seatbelts and the dramatic difference they could have on our children’s safety in the case of an accident occurring. Students onboard would have a much better chance at sustaining less or more minor injuries as well as survival had they been protected by seatbelts.

The addition of seatbelts would also aide in minimizing student misbehavior onboard. If secured in seatbelts, they wouldn’t be able to stand up, walk up and down the aisles, or repeatedly change seats while the buses are in motion.

Ironically enough it is illegal to ride in or operate any other motorized vehicle without wearing a seatbelt and failure to use a seatbelt results in a ticket and fines if noticed by law enforcement.

Bus drivers themselves are required to wear seatbelts so why shouldn’t the rest of the riders be as well?

One might argue that our seatbelt laws in general are flawed and unjustified.

It almost insinuates that an adult’s safety is more important than a child’s.

What makes school buses different from any other vehicle? Nothing at all.

So therefore why should their passengers be exempt from the mandatory seatbelt laws?

In that case, why should any of us be forced to abide by them?

This is a major flaw in our legal and school systems alike and I believe it’s past time its reconsidered and perfected in order to maintain a fair legal system for all citizens equally.

Our children deserve to ride to and from school safely, seeing that they are, after all, the future of our society.

Shouldn’t they be protected as much as any of us if not more so?

Let’s demand that seatbelts be incorporated into our school buses as soon as possible to ensure our children stay safe traveling back and forth to school during the critical blossoming period of their educational journey.

 

By Anne Marie Willis

Picayune