As new parents, you aren’t allowed to leave the hospital with your newborn unless you have an approved, properly installed, rear-facing infant car seat that meets stringent federal standards as it should be.
As the child grows, you are required to replace the car seat with one that’s age and size appropriate, and then they move up to a booster seat until they reach the height of 4-9. For most children that puts them around 10 years old. Then and only then are they permitted to be restrained in the same fashion as adults.
If you fly to a destination rather than driving, seatbelts are required on planes. Take a ride on a passenger train, and you’ll find the same rules. And the same applies when you take a chartered bus trip or ride a Greyhound.
Suppose you are driving your private vehicle or riding as a passenger and an officer conducts a traffic stop. In that case, there will be fines and citations if you, especially your children, are unbuckled.
The one place you won’t find seatbelts is on a school bus – the means of transportation that we, as parents, grandparents and guardians, entrust with our most precious treasures twice a day, five days a week.
On Monday, a horrific school bus accident occurred in nearby Magoffin County involving 18 students and the driver. The students ranged from kindergarten to seniors in high school. They left home that morning for school, never thinking that within a very short period, their lives would hang in the balance as the bus they rode went over a steep embankment, falling hundreds of feet before crashing onto its side.
Windows on the bus shattered and splintered, and the metal frame twisted and bent as it crashed to the ground. With all the damage on the outside, imagine the terror and fear going through the minds of the 19 onboard as they were tossed about with nothing to hold them in their seats. The only seat belt on a full-sized school bus in Kentucky is for the driver.
There were 19 individuals on Bus number 2030. All 19 had to be transported from the scene to area medical centers by ambulance, with three being air-lifted to trauma centers due to the severity of their injuries and the need for specialized care.
The list of injuries is long, including broken limbs, spinal fractures, head and facial trauma, a shattered sternum, internal bleeding, multiple lacerations requiring stitches and more contusions than one could count. This list just covers the physical injuries and doesn’t even scratch the surface of the mental scars many of these students may carry with them forever.
There is no question in this case. The students were not wearing seat belts.
That is a cold, hard fact acceptable to lawmakers and the state school board.
The question is, why is it acceptable?
The next question is, how many accidents have to occur before those we elect to represent our needs do what should have been done years ago and address this situation?
Children can’t change the laws; they only get to abide by them. It’s time to protect our children and require seat belts on school buses.