Study: School buses safe enough without seat belts

By BOB JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Monday, October 25, 2010; 8:06 PM

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- School buses are safe enough without seat belts and students in many cases ignore a requirement to wear them, according to a study in Alabama released Monday that found the straps would save the life of about one child every eight years.

The study was ordered by Alabama Gov. Bob Riley after four students were killed in 2006 when a school bus without seat belts nose-dived from an overpass in Huntsville.

Following that accident, federal transportation officials required new, smaller school buses to be equipped with lap-and-shoulder belts by 2011. Larger buses are to have higher seat backs.

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