Seatbelt paradox

[Edward C. Bennett]

Ever wonder why there are no seatbelts in school busses? If a
school bug gets in a wreck, there is the potential for alot of injuries.

--
Edward C. Bennett

UUCP: ihnp4!cbosgd!ukma!ukecc!edward

/* A charter member of the Scooter bunch */

"Goodnight M.A."

[M.RINDSBERG]

>
> Ever wonder why there are no seatbelts in school busses? If a
> school bug gets in a wreck, there is the potential for alot of injuries.

They used to. Some do still have them today. In fact in some states
with a seatbelt law It wouldnt make sense not to have seatbelts.

[Dave Kirby]

In article <3...@ukecc.UUCP> edw...@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) writes:
>
> Ever wonder why there are no seatbelts in school busses?

With the kids I went to school with, strait-jackets would have worked
better.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Kirby ( ...!ihnp4!akgub!cylixd!dave)

[wts]

According to a representative of Thomas Built Buses, Inc. of High
Point, NC, that was interviewed on a local news program, seat
belts on school buses may cause more injuries than they prevent.
According to the results of their studies, a child's
body will bend at the waist and go face first into the seat
in front when restrained at the waist by a simple lap
belt. When unrestrained, the child's body will tend
to come up out of the seat, and impact the seat in front
with his chest/abdomen, thereby spreading the impact force
over a larger, more resilient area.

According to Thomas, a more cost effective means of insuring
passenger safety would be a seatback that had extra padding
so when hit, the result would be a soft landing. Thomas
is currently working on this now, according to the news report.

This all seems to make sense. If your reference point is an
automobile, the "second" impact for a front seat passenger,
unbelted, is typically the windshield, headfirst. With a
lapbelt, second impact is the dashboard, teethfirst(8-}).
Shoulder harnesses were then required for front seat
occupants. Rear seat occupants went face first into
the padded rear of the front seat when belted. With a
schoolbus, there is less likelihood of serious "second"
impact when unbelted. Also, in North Carolina, school
buses are governed to 35 MPH max., and Activity buses
are governed to 45 MPH max. Slower speeds are the best
prevention of serious bodily injury.

William T. Sykes
AT&T Technologies, Inc
Burlington, NC
burl!wts

[Andrew Scott Beals]

In article <3...@ukecc.UUCP> edw...@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) writes:

> Ever wonder why there are no seatbelts in school busses? If a
>school bug gets in a wreck, there is the potential for alot of injuries.

The congressional committee that looked into that a number of years
ago decided that the evil little ones that attend our public schools
would use seatbelts more for hitting each other and causing serious
damage than would actually wear the damn things.

Why do you think they have nicely padded seatbacks and bars in
them?
--
Forward, comrades! Long live the windmill! Long live Animal Farm!

andy beals, ba...@lll-crg.arpa, {seismo,sun,dual}!lll-crg!bandy

[P. Kirsch]

In article <3...@ukecc.UUCP> edw...@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) writes:
>

Speaking of seatbelts, when I was in Illinois this summer I learned that
they just enacted a mandatory seatbelt law and yet you are allowed to
ride a motorcycle there without a helmet--that, to me, seems idiotic.
I would think that wearing a helmet on a motorcycle would be just as
important.

--

Another wunnerful letter from the semi-intelligent rotting brain of:

Paul Kirsch
St. Joseph's University
Philadelphia, Pa

{ astrovax | allegra | bpa | burdvax } !sjuvax!kirsch

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