School bus seats may get full belts
Transport firms to add costs to bids
Waltham parents advocating for seat belts on the city’s school buses may get their way if transport companies offer buses equipped with belts under contracts the city can afford. The buses would hit the road in September of 2011, and would put the city at the forefront of the nationwide movement for seat belts on school buses.
“We found that nearly every resident we approached to sign the petition was instantly and enthusiastically positive about adding lap-shoulder belts to make school buses safer,’’ said Rachel Learned, chairwoman of Waltham4Seatbelts, the advocacy group that has been researching the issue and working with the School Department.
Originally, the group wanted seat belts for field trips, said Learned. She said the idea sprung up when parents realized their children were going on field trips to Plum Island and Plimoth Plantation without belts.
The group was able to successfully get buses with lap-only belts for future field trips, but as the organization did more research, it learned that combination lap-shoulder belts are far more effective in preventing injury, said Learned.
Although federal agencies that oversee highway safety endorse the use of seat belts on school buses, only six states require them. Locally, Newton, which suffered the devastating loss of four middle school students in a 2001 bus crash during a band field trip to Nova Scotia, now requires seat belts.
In April, Waltham4Seatbelts presented 811 signatures to the School Committee from local residents supporting lap-shoulder belts. The School Department endorses the effort, said school officials.
School Committee member Lisa Limonciello said that “the only roadblock that may come up’’ would be if bus companies offer bids for the seat-belt buses that the school system cannot afford. “This is fairly new territory so we’re not sure what companies have,’’ she said.
Newton started requiring seat belts from school bus contractors the year after the accident, said Sandra Guryan, assistant superintendent for business and finance for the Newton school system. She said the bid proposals were very favorable and getting lap belts didn’t pose any additional financial burden for Newton schools.
But lap-shoulder belts are not the norm, said Learned.
She said her group has been unable to find any local bus company that has lap-shoulder belts installed, which means that companies responding to Waltham’s bid request will have to factor in the cost of installation. However, she said the cost — about $10,000 per bus — would be affordable if bus companies agree to spread the expense over the length of Waltham’s next contract.
Waltham Fire Chief Richard Cardillo has been a vocal supporter of the seat-belt effort, and has given his opinions to school officials.
“It’s been a pet peeve of mine for years as to why it’s not required for children,’’ he said in an interview.
He said no matter what the cost of seat belts, it’s worth it. He said he has seen firsthand the benefits of seat belts in “over 30 years responding to motor vehicle crashes.’’
“For anyone in this business or in public safety has been involved in the death of a child, it takes something out of you,’’ he said.
School Superintendent Peter Azar created a subcommittee to look at the all of the research on seat belts and start a bid incorporating the seat-belt requirements.
Azar said bus companies will be asked to provide three different proposals in their bids, outlining the costs for service on buses without seat belts, on buses with over-the-shoulder harnesses, and on buses with lap-shoulder belts.
Limonciello said the wording will be done this summer and the contract could go out to bid this fall in preparation for the 2011-2012 school year.
According to a report in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 17,000 injuries occur on school buses every year, with 42.3 percent of those injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes.
And the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal agency that regulates schools buses, states that “in terms of the optimum passenger crash protection that can be afforded an individual passenger on a large school bus, a lap-shoulder belt system, together with compartmentalization, would afford that optimum protection.’’
The states that have school bus seat-belt laws — California, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Louisiana, and Texas — require lap belts, according to Waltham4Seatbelts. The use of lap-shoulder belts is rare, with districts that use them scattered throughout the country in places like Palmdale, Calif., and Romeoville, Ill.
Waltham is committed to the cause, said Limonciello. But whether the city is able to get them will be determined when bus companies start responding to the bid request.
Megan McKee can be reached at megan.mckee@gmail.com. 
