{"id":37925,"date":"2015-08-20T08:29:59","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T12:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smart-union.dev\/news\/school-bus-safest-transportation-for-students\/"},"modified":"2015-08-20T08:29:59","modified_gmt":"2015-08-20T12:29:59","slug":"school-bus-safest-transportation-for-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/school-bus-safest-transportation-for-students\/","title":{"rendered":"School bus safest transportation for students","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Over the next few weeks, nearly 50 million children will head back to school; more than 20 million of those students, including my daughter, will ride on a school bus.<\/p>\n
When I talk about how to safely transport children to and from school, and more specifically about school bus safety, one of the first questions I am asked is \u201cWhy aren\u2019t school buses required to have seat belts?\u201d The answer isn\u2019t simple, but I\u2019ll explore it below.<\/p>\n
First, let me convey something that\u00a0is\u00a0simple: school buses, with or without seat belts, are the safest way to go to and from school! Your child is safer riding in a school bus, even without seat belts, than any other way to get to school, including your own car.<\/p>\n
Every year, more than 30,000 people are killed on the nation\u2019s roadways. In fact, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for school-age children. Each year approximately 800 school-age children are killed in motor vehicle crashes during normal school travel hours (September 1 through June 15, Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 8:59 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 4:59 p.m.) The numbers are worst for teenagers driving themselves to and from school, who are at the highest risk of injury or fatality. The risk for teen drivers is about eight times higher than the risk for teens driven by adults.<\/p>\n