That’s what I always assumed was the reason for designing them to be safe without belts.
There were belts on couple of the front seats when I was a kid (mid 80s).
Ironically that state had only just started making seatbelts mandatory for minors (I think under 16 or maybe just under 12). There were kids riding around in the back of pickup trucks on main roads when we first moved there.
The used school bus I bought spent its working life in Buffalo where state law requires all buses to have seat belts. Most of them had been stuffed down behind the backrests and none of them showed even the slightest bit of wear despite 15 years in service.
We mostly don’t here in the US, either. It’s not federally required for them to have seat belts, but that may change in the future based off things like the NTSB’s recommendation.
Other countries have seatbelts on school buses, so it’s not exactly some cut and dry question.
It’s not even the case in all US states.
The NTSB recommends that we start enforcing seat belts on school buses.
https://www.ntsb.gov/Advocacy/safety-topics/Pages/schoolbuses.aspx
They agree with what you said, but disagree that the risk of being trapped outweighs the risk of being fired face first into a seat back.
As a school bus driver, I can say there is ZERO chance of being able to make the kids actually wear the seat belts.
That’s what I always assumed was the reason for designing them to be safe without belts.
There were belts on couple of the front seats when I was a kid (mid 80s).
Ironically that state had only just started making seatbelts mandatory for minors (I think under 16 or maybe just under 12). There were kids riding around in the back of pickup trucks on main roads when we first moved there.
The used school bus I bought spent its working life in Buffalo where state law requires all buses to have seat belts. Most of them had been stuffed down behind the backrests and none of them showed even the slightest bit of wear despite 15 years in service.
Interesting. I live in southern Ontario and we definitely don’t have seat belts on buses here.
We mostly don’t here in the US, either. It’s not federally required for them to have seat belts, but that may change in the future based off things like the NTSB’s recommendation.