Within a few short weeks, the school board would like for us to approve a levy. A sizable amount of that levy is designated for use in buying buses with seat belts and retrofitting existing buses. But the real question is, “Why?”

Twenty-three and a half million students in America ride school buses each day. Fewer than six each year will die as a result of riding a school bus. The National Highway Transportation Administration has issued a position statement concluding that “there is insufficient reason for a federal mandate for seat belts on large school buses,” and that “school bus transportation is one of the safest forms of transportation in the United States.”

The reality is that there is ample evidence to indicate that unlike seat belts in cars, seat belts in buses may put students in more danger. If students are buckled in and the bus catches on fire, how will a driver be able to get small grade school children out of their belts so they can get out of the smoke? Or what if the bus goes into the lake or a river and is submerged? If the bus is hit from the side and the students are buckled in, they will not be thrown across the bus or will not be able to move away on their own but will be trapped and take the full impact of a solid hitting an immovable object. And...the greatest danger of all is that bus drivers will be going down the road with their eyes in the mirror to see if kids are buckled in or have just unbuckled, instead of watching the road.

Seat belts are a bus driver’s worst nightmare. The only way to make their use compulsory is to have an aide on each bus to make sure students stay buckled. That means doubling the work force. A driver, driving on a busy highway cannot stop with each new student and go back and see if the student buckled up. So seat belt use in states that have seat belts is voluntary.

Two of the school board members were nice enough to meet with us after we discovered in The Press that they were determined to put seat belts in our buses. We asked them “Why?” Why would they foolishly use taxpayers’ money for something that does not make our students any safer and which will be a huge expense? Their answer...”It’s a trend.” The reality is that seven states have seat belt mandates. That’s hardly a trend! And their second reason was that they wanted students to be buckled in on sports trips of long distances. The reality...most games end late at night and I assure you that football players will not be buckled in on the way home from games in the middle of the night.

If a bus has seat belts and there is an accident, who is responsible if it is discovered that an injured student was not buckled up? Until such a case is litigated, no one knows who will be held responsible. For that reason alone, I don’t know of one driver who will support this unwise decision by the school board.

If I vote for the levy, it will be because I know our school board is making wise decisions that will help our children be prepared for the world they will soon be facing upon graduation. But I will not vote for the foolish use of taxpayers’ dollars. I hope you will carefully consider this as well.

•••

Bob Schneiter is a Hayden Lake resident.