Getting Kids to School Safely.

• Author: Smith, Anna
• Position: TRENDS

It's rare for one to occur, but horrific when it does.

Crashes killed 68 children riding in school buses between 2007 and 2016, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Every day, more than 25 million children climb into 485,000 buses around the country. And even though school buses are statistically the safest form of transportation for school children, lawmakers continue to debate what can be done to ensure students arrive to and from schools safely, focusing often on whether to require seat belts and how to improve other drivers' behavior around bus stops.

School buses are designed with structural safety features such as high, energy-absorbing seat backs and closely spaced seats so children are kept snug. But those features don't necessarily protect children the way seat belts would during side-impact crashes or high-speed rollovers. Eight states have passed a seat belt law for school buses, though some laws are contingent on available funding and local buy-in, and most laws are only for new school buses.

Sometimes tragedies bring about changes. After a student and a teacher died in a school bus crash in Paramus, N.J., in May, lawmakers responded by passing legislation requiring lap-shoulder (three-point) seat belts instead of solely lap-belts. The new requirement applies to buses manufactured beginning 180 days after the governor signed the bill.

The National Transportation Safety Board recommends three-point belts for all new buses. Others aren't so sure seat belts are worth the cost. They point to good safety records and question the wisdom of spending an estimated $7,000 to $10,000 per vehicle to add...