Okanagan school bus crash prompts seat belt debate

The crash of a school bus in the Okanagan has reignited the debate about seat belts and whether they should be on buses.

Thursday morning, a bus carrying students from Vernon Christian School lost control on an icy road and ended up on its side. There were no serious injuries but 19 children were taken to hospital to get checked out.

One of the arguments against seat belts on buses is kids would keep unbuckling them. But even if they didn’t would a seat belt prevent injuries?

Robyn Stephenson from the Vernon School District Transportation says there’s no proof seat belts would make a bus safer.

“There’s not very many injuries on a school bus every year and the ones that do happen there’s no proof that a seat belt would prevent that or that it would make it safer.”

School buses are designed in a way to reduce impact. In a head-on crash the seats are higher, close together and padded. Crash tests show it works in a head-on crash situation.

With files from Ted Chernecki