Department of Transportation on the short bus

In the Birmingham News today, a column by Ginny MacDonald addresses whether or not a school bus should have seatbelts. After many statistics and quotes in favor of a belt for your bus-riding child, she failed to give her own opinion. I'll be her Simon Cowell: After 4o2 wrecks in Alabama in 2003 involving school buses, 56 injuries, and one fatality, it's time for a law requiring our children to buckle up on the bus! Alabama has the "click it or ticket" campaign, why doesn't it apply to buses? It doesn't make any sense to create a double-standard for the next generation.

New York, New Jersey and Florida require new buses to have seat belts, but only New Jersey and Florida require students to use them.

What's the point of having a seat belt then?

Shayne from Fultondale, AL said it best when responding to Driving Miss Crazy (another opinion given to someone else in MacDonald's column):

The problem of the bus driver not being able to enforce seat belt use can be solved by technical means. I have a Toyota with a sensor in the passenger seat to detect when the seat is occupied, and a sensor on the seat belt receptacle to detect if the belt is in use. If a person is detected in the seat, but the belt is not buckled a warning light illuminates. Surely if Toyota can include this technology, it could be included in a school bus. Enforcement is simple. If the child is caught a given number of times without his or her belt fastened the child should be removed from the bus. This puts the problem of enforcement in the hands of the parent, as once the child is removed from the bus it's up to the parent to get the child to school. - Shayne