School bus seat belts won’t be required

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BY NATE JENKINS / The Associated Press

Concerns about cost and liability derailed a bill in the Legislature that would have eventually required all school buses in the state to have seat belts.

Six states already require kids to be strapped in and nine others are considering it, according to Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff, who sponsored the Nebraska bill (LB1092). He backed away from it Friday after a flurry of opposition from school administrators and efforts by senators to kill the bill.

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“It looks like a nice law,’’ said Grant Norgaard, superintendent of Leigh Community Schools, located north of Columbus. “But the issue is, does it really increase safety? The research we looked at ... didn’t show any greater safety. But it does cost more.’’

Just two weeks ago, the bill passed a first-round vote by lawmakers, 33-4. But school officials in Leigh and many other communities took notice of the proposal and told senators of their concerns, dampening support for the bill.

“I haven’t heard from a single school administrator that they think it’s a good idea,’’ said Sen. Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center, who added that he’d talked to upward of 15 administrators.

“It’s an unfunded mandate and we don’t have enough research on whether they work,’’ he said of seat belts in school buses.

Stuthman called the senators’ first-round support of the bill a “feel good vote’’ that shielded them from criticism that they don’t care about the safety of kids.

Faced with more opposition and little time left in the legislative session, Harms decided to yank the bill from consideration and take his chances again next year.

But he strongly disagreed with assertions that seat belts wouldn’t increase safety, and said there is research that proves his point. The additional cost, he said, is worth it.

Buses with seat belts can cost roughly $10,000 more than those without them. It was estimated that buying seat belt-equipped buses could have raised districts’ costs by $20 million.

“I don’t think putting an additional $10,000 on the cost of a bus, for the price of saving kids, is too expensive,’’ Harms said.

Statistics from the state Department of Roads, according to Harms, shows school buses were involved in 113 separate accidents in 2006. They caused serious, disabling injuries to two children and another 19 visible but not serious injuries, such as scratches and bruises, to other kids.

From 1993 through 2003, there were seven fatalities and 216 injuries, he said.

Harms and others have also pointed to the 2001 Seward High School bus crash when arguing for a seat-belt requirement. Four people were killed and 27 injured in the wreck that occurred when the bus was returning home after a band competition at Burke High School in Omaha.

“It’s an emotional issue,’’ said Norgaard, who mentioned the accident. “But would seat belts really prevent injuries?

“School buses are the safest form of transportation on the roads,’’ he said and added that a parent has never asked him for school buses to be fitted with seat belts.

Harms’ measure would not have required districts to retrofit their current buses with seat belts. Instead, it would have required all buses bought by districts, beginning in 2010, to have seat belts.

The Scottsbluff lawmaker said that when he brings the bill back next year, he may propose some state funding to offset the costs to districts.