Following a recent tragedy in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in which six children were killed, there has been much debate over whether buses should have seat belts or not. I believe to avoid future accidents like this, we should implement having seat belts on buses.
In a Today article written in 2010 by M. Alex, it is stated that “modern school buses are already remarkably safe” and that the “designers of modern school buses don’t trust squirmy children properly.” While I do see the reasoning behind this idea, I do not believe that modern school buses or even buses in general are built safe enough to not need a seatbelt. In the case that a bus ends up upside down, as it did in Tennessee, the tremendous loss of life could have been prevented had there only been seatbelts.
Freshman Rachel Wobby questioned, “Shouldn’t it be easier for people to get out of a bus, if there was an emergency?” While I do agree that it would be easier to evacuate a bus without seat belts, I believe that it compromises people’s safety in the other aspects of an emergency. It may also make children start to think it is alright to use transportation without wearing a seatbelt.
Not only would this affect the global community, but it would also affect our local Sage Creek community. Some students take the public bus to get to school and all of our sports teams use buses to get to games at other schools. Sophomore Taelor Holdcraft, who plays basketball said, “To be honest I like having my seatbelt off during bus rides to games, but I do know for a fact that they can keep us safe and save our lives.” Even though they are tedious, seatbelts are useful and can save your life.
Senior Caly Ball agrees with this and stated that “seat belts save lives and by having them on buses, it’s teaching kids good habits when they get into a car with seatbelts.” Adding seat belts to buses would not only possibly save lives, but it would help enforce good habits for young children along with adults. I believe that by adding seat belts we could make buses much safer.