Child endangerment, anyone?

[Geek King]

Those have high seats though, so the seat in front of you would stop you from going forward. Usually, the very front seats have seat belts. Nowadays, they can only take x amount of kids on a bus. No standees allowed.

High seats still cause impact trauma. Then you have this issue* where the impact isn't front/back.

*Real-Life accident footage from inside the bus. To knowledge, no deadly injury in this one, but not for lack of trying. More due to good luck than safety features.

[wagegoth]

They should have seatbelts on school buses. Sometimes I wish they had them on the bus I take to work. There have been a few sudden stops, and I stopped myself by bracing against the seat in front of me (the seats are nice, with high backs for headrests, and extra padding). These buses go on freeways.

[BlaqueKatt]

I remember those. We used to think it was reeeeealllly coool to be in the back.

that wasn't the back it was "the waaaaaay back"

[BookstoreEscapee]

I remember those. We used to think it was reeeeealllly coool to be in the back.

We did that in my dad's old station wagon. Never thought much of it but now I know better...

[wolfie]

It wasn't one of those older station wagons that has a seat in the back facing to the rear, was it? Some of the older station wagons had a rear facing seat where the cargo compartment would be. I used to love riding in those. It was a novelty to ride facing backwards. If it wasn't, though, then yeah. Those parents should be shot.

I remember an ad for one of those - full page in Harrowsmith, and it showed unbelted kids in the "jumpseat". The ad writer should have been fired, though - the headline for the ad was "now you can put 6 feet between you and your children". Kids without seatbelts? 6 feet? I thought everyone knew the connotations of that measurement (i.e. looking at the grass from opposite sides).

[Rapscallion]

Heh - seatbelts on buses. Brought back a memory or five from yesteryear.

Back when I was in the fruit and veg game, we met up with some characters at the wholesale market. One pair of brothers ran a coach hire business. A local school group had decided that their school bus was going to be so good it would have seat belts, because nothing else would be good enough for their children.

Chap I was speaking to was one of those people who didn't appear bright, but if you asked him any sort of mathematical question he had answers within seconds. He knew how much it cost to outfit a coach with belts. He worked out how much he'd have to charge, and it wasn't a huge amount even back then.

Belts didn't happen.

He also told us of the school board who invited all the local coach operators to hear their pitch - in short, the winner of the contract would have to provide service A, B, and C, and would get amount X. Several of the others glanced at said chap, according to chap's brother. He worked out that if the bus was full year round - without taking into account the number of holidays schools have - then they'd break even at best without much maintenance. He said as much.

The school board protested. "But you can use it for other runs between the school runs and make money that way!"

A dedicated service that has to be at those points for two specific times about eight hours apart? One that has hefty failure penalties? It didn't happen.

Rapscallion

[Broomjockey]

How do you all feel about kids getting on the school bus everyday? Not to many have seatbelts, or even enough seats for everyone on board.

School buses are basically built like tanks, to my knowledge. They will cream anything short of a semi, and not take much damage. As for the not enough seats, that's purely the school board fucking up, not to do with the bus.

Now, I'd like to see you ensure 50 or so kids all have their seat belt on, and still make the route in the time allotted

[Geek King]

School buses are basically built like tanks, to my knowledge. They will cream anything short of a semi, and not take much damage.

I'm sure the bus will be fine, but the soft squishy humans inside will still rattle around like BBs in a boxcar. I've been the BB. Not. Fun. See the video I linked to above. Bus is structurally fine, but the kids still went flying when it rolled.

As for the not enough seats, that's purely the school board fucking up, not to do with the bus.

I am less concerned about the cause of the overcrowding than the fact that most I've dealt with still try to shove three kids in a seat for whatever reason. We used to call the poor slobs stuck next to the aisles as "Half-seaters" as they could only fit one ass cheek on the actual seat. I remember several quick stops as a kid that had the "half-seaters" sliding down the aisles.

Now, I'd like to see you ensure 50 or so kids all have their seat belt on, and still make the route in the time allotted

Hard to argue that now that schools are gun shy against real punishment. I know when I was in school, we got in real trouble for misbehavior on the bus, and so didn't see much more issue than the bus driver occasionally hollering to someone to sit down. I always had my head in a book, so I rarely got into trouble on the bus.

Look, my intent in that post was just to point out that what we see occasionally in a station wagon or other large-trunk car and rant about happens every school day with millions of kids, and really don't comment on it. Just an odd observation that hit me due to personal experience.

[Broomjockey]

Look, my intent in that post was just to point out that what we see occasionally in a station wagon or other large-trunk car and rant about happens every school day with millions of kids, and really don't comment on it.

Then I'd suggest not phrasing it as a question asking people's opinions, if your intent wasn't to actually get said opinions.