After Talgo Disaster in Spain, repercussions for Amtrak?

[Swadian Hardcore]

Okay, so if I'm on a bus and I go flying into the seat ahead of me at 40 mph, that's still going to cause some injuries. I still wish seat belts were an option. I get the vandalism thing, but there are times I think, "Wow. It would really hurt if my face hit the back of that seat."

Seat belts are an option on all Greyhound buses ordered and after, but the new seats that come with the belts are not as well-padded as the older seats. The oldest seats don't have belts and are not very comfortable either, but these are only found on G4500 buses, which mainly serve the Los Angeles, Seattle, and El Paso area routes, including everything in between.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Crush zones aside, I wonder if a lot of injuries/deaths could be prevented if there were seatbelts? In a car, most people are buckled in, which means their body stays locked in position while the crush zones do their job to keep as much of the vehicle away from the body as possible. On a train, the crush zones do their job, but there's not a lot you can prevent if a body is flying through the air toward those areas, or even just a solid wall or seat (or bags flying through the air and whatnot). If the baggage were secured and the seats had belts, maybe more injuries could be prevented?
Just a thought. It's always strange to me that school buses, city buses, subways, trains, etc don't have seatbelts. For all the talking we do about buckling up and putting kids in child safety seats and booster seats, we take a lot of chances on public transit and school buses. It's bizarre.

Sorcha, many of us teachers also wondered why school buses don't have seat belts. We were told that the main reason is that it would slow down evacuating the bus in emergencies too much, and that the buses' high, padded seat backs offer some protection to the passengers behind them in a crash. They are big on being able to evacuate the buses rapidly; the students have to actually practice doing this within a time limit several times each year.

I'm still not totally convinced, but presumably those more knowledgeable than I know what they're doing. ??

I know mostly about intercity buses, but an important difference between cars and buses is that the latter is mostly made with integral construction instead of body on chassis. I'm pretty sure that this extends to school buses as well, but I very rarely ride school buses, so I'm not entirely sure. The integral bodywork is far stronger than car bodywork, so the bus should withstand much more crush force. It would be hard to avoid students flying out of their seats though, especially taller students who aren't protected by the high seatback. The school bus seats don't seem effective at containing pax either, becuase the seat cushions are so flat and smooth, presumably allowing pax to slide out in an accident.

This is mostly speculation, as I don't know much about school buses and I'm not even sure if they use integral or body on chassis.

 

[DET63]

School buses used to transport children with disabilities (the "short buses") have seat belts, since many if not most of the children who ride them have mobility issues that may make it impossible for them to sit in a safe position without seat belts.

On buses used for general student transport, seat belts create a number of issues, including the fact that children of diverse sizes may be riding them. A seat belt adjusted to fit a small first grader isn't going to be appropriate for a senior football player on the bus going to an football game.

 

[Ispolkom]

Crush zones aside, I wonder if a lot of injuries/deaths could be prevented if there were seatbelts? In a car, most people are buckled in, which means their body stays locked in position while the crush zones do their job to keep as much of the vehicle away from the body as possible. On a train, the crush zones do their job, but there's not a lot you can prevent if a body is flying through the air toward those areas, or even just a solid wall or seat (or bags flying through the air and whatnot). If the baggage were secured and the seats had belts, maybe more injuries could be prevented?
Just a thought. It's always strange to me that school buses, city buses, subways, trains, etc don't have seatbelts. For all the talking we do about buckling up and putting kids in child safety seats and booster seats, we take a lot of chances on public transit and school buses. It's bizarre.

Sorcha, many of us teachers also wondered why school buses don't have seat belts. We were told that the main reason is that it would slow down evacuating the bus in emergencies too much, and that the buses' high, padded seat backs offer some protection to the passengers behind them in a crash. They are big on being able to evacuate the buses rapidly; the students have to actually practice doing this within a time limit several times each year.

I'm still not totally convinced, but presumably those more knowledgeable than I know what they're doing. ??

The NHTSA addresses seat belts on school buses here. My takeaway is that the most important safety issue for children riding schoolbuses is not safety in a crash, but avoiding getting hit by the bus.