Luck, or perhaps a higher power, was with the Griffith High School basketball team March 19.
The team was on its way to the Class 3A semistate game in Lafayette when a careless driver sideswiped its bus, causing it to roll over into a ditch along Interstate 65. An assistant coach was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Miraculously, the other 26 people aboard escaped without serious harm.
Looking at the images of the crumpled bus, the outcome could have been much, much worse.
Fear of that outcome has prompted many to call for seat belts on Indiana’s more than 13,000 school buses.
But those calls aren’t new. And Indiana certainly isn’t in the minority when it comes to school bus seat belts. Most states don’t require them.
It’s difficult to say whether the Hoosier State ever will.
Bills on the matter have repeatedly failed to gain traction in the Legislature. Two introduced in the past session didn’t receive committee hearings. And past efforts, even in the aftermath of more serious accidents, haven’t gained ground.
It isn’t that legislators don’t want to protect students’ lives. Doing so just isn’t as simple as it may seem.
Costs to add seat belts to existing buses are prohibitive. Estimates by the Indiana Department of Education say the price tag for installing belts could reach nearly $15,000 per bus, a price most districts wouldn’t be able to pay. Some schools might be forced to eliminate busing altogether or would need to add buses to accommodate students, since seat belts would allow just two students per seat.
Then there’s the matter of enforcement. Bus drivers have enough demands for their attention – like keeping their eyes on the road. Making sure everyone is wearing their seat belt for every minute of the ride is too much to ask. Districts might need to add monitors to ensure compliance – another cost they cannot bear.
Safety experts also contend that seat belts alone aren’t the answer. There have been calls for NASCAR-style roll cages in the roofs of buses to prevent collapses like the one seen in the Griffith accident. In the wake of that accident, some even suggested that had the basketball players, much taller than your typical elementary school student, been strapped in, it could have spelled their doom when the roof was crushed.
Every mother and father wants to know their child will be safe when they’re aboard a school bus. School and state officials want to be able to guarantee it.
Seat belts may be the right solution. But a new state law requiring them can’t be a knee-jerk reaction to near-tragedy. Lawmakers should give the issue careful – but quick – study and, most importantly, find a way to help school systems bear the burden of the added cost.