School Bus Fleet, June 2018

Seat belt spec Davis presented his findings on the subject to Henrico County officials who decided in spring 2017 to include a requirement for seat belts in the school districts vehicle specifications So far Henrico County Public Schools has purchased 24 new school buses with three point seat belts The buses are Thomas Built models and the seats and belts are supplied by SynTec Seating Solutions Davis said that the three point restraint systems added 9200 to the cost of the districts 77 passenger buses and 6200 to the cost of 53 passenger models The transportation director acknowledged that the premium for three point belts meant buying 24 new buses instead of 26 Henrico County Public Schools has a fleet of more than 600 school buses so the phasing in of three point belts could take 10 to 20 years depending on future funding levels The county is looking for some additional funds to accelerate bus replacement Davis said Were hoping to buy 40 to 60 buses in each of the next few years Belt use not mandatory Virginia doesnt have school bus seat belt requirements on the books so Henrico County made its own determination about whether to mandate that students buckle up on the belt equipped buses For now the school district is leaving it voluntary school bus drivers encourage their passengers to wear the three point belts but they dont force the issue Davis said that in general younger students are complying but with older students its a mixed bag Meanwhile the district is hoping that parents will support the seat belt initiative Right now we tell parents we are investing in this safety equipment for your students and we hope that they will use it but were not going to take them to the principals office if they wont buckle up Davis said Confronting concerns Seat belts on school buses has long been a contentious issue RICHMOND Va When the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA told transportation officials gathered here in 2015 that all school buses should have three point seat belts the message hit close to home for Josh Davis As director of pupil transportation for Henrico County Public Schools Davis oversees a large fleet of school buses that cover the county surrounding Richmond where the industrys fall conferences were held in 2015 NHTSAs then administrator Mark Rosekind raised eyebrows among conference attendees and made headlines in the mainstream media when he declared that every child on every school bus should have a three point seat belt Among those in the audience was Davis who was spurred by Rosekinds statement to get more educated about the issue of seat belts on school buses I said to myself I need to do more research because the question will inevitably come up from the superintendent elected officials or parents Davis recalled Reviewing the research Specifically Davis pored over the National Transportation Safety Boards NTSBs analyses of occupant protection in school bus crashes The investigative agency has found that lap shoulder belts reduce flailing injuries and enhance protection for school bus passengers Im an engineer by trade in education so I understand the type of modeling NTSB did said Davis who has worked in pupil transportation for the past nine years His review of the research on school bus occupant protection led Davis to two key conclusions For one Three point belts do provide an extra layer of safety from some of the very rare crashes that can occur he said Those would include side impacts and rollovers But the benefits of the belts arent limited to severe crashes Davis determined His second conclusion I believe that three point belts will help reduce injuries in some of the lesser crashes 12 SCHOOL BUS FLEET JUNE 2018 WWW SCHOOLBUSFLEET COM NEWS Virginia District Adds 3 Point Belts to New School Buses Starting last year Henrico County Public Schools newly purchased buses have three point seat belts for students By Thomas McMahon BUSting up