With less than a week before the 2016 Kansas legislative session officially begins, a state representative has pre-filed a bill designed to help protect children who ride the school bus to and from school everyday.
RELATED: Do seat belts make your school bus safer?
Rep. Susie Swanson is proposing that schools buying new buses would have to purchase ones with seat belts.
“There are concerns and if there are concerns then I think it is appropriate for me as a legislator to bring those concerns forward,” Swanson told 41 Action News in a phone interview.
Swanson’s decision to pre-file this bill is in response to her constituents concerns following the deadly school bus crash in Chattanooga, Tenn. that killed six children.
Neither Kansas nor Missouri require seat belts on school buses.
Because there are no federal mandates, only six states require seat belts on school buses— California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
RELATED: School bus safety: Why your child's bus has no seat belts
In Kansas, a bill to require seat belts on school buses died in 2004, 2006 and 2007 after failing to make it out of the House Transportation Committee.
In 2005, the Missouri Governor launched a taskforce to look at school bus safety following a school bus accident. The taskforce recommended school busses be outfitted with seat belts but that recommendation was never adopted.
For years, school districts and school bus manufacturers have argued school buses are designed to save lives. They say the high and closely placed seats create ‘compartmentalization,’ which absorbs energy during crashes.
School belts are also costly. It’s estimated to cost $7,000 to $10,000 more for each new bus versus buses that are not equipped with seat belts.
------
Ariel Rothfield can be reached at Ariel.Rothfield@KSHB.com.
