Buckling up not likely for school buses

By Miranda Mattheis | Dadeville Record

Published Thursday, August 21, 2008

Recent school bus accidents have caused Gov. Bob Riley’s office to look into the benefits of seatbelts on buses.

However, area school systems won’t be buckling kids up on the buses — at least not yet.

Tallapoosa County Schools superintendent Ginger East and Alexander City Schools superintendent Lou Ann Wagoner both said they are following the research, but neither intends to make any changes yet.

“We have checked into it and looked at the research by the governor’s committee,” East said.

But, East said so far none of the research has been conclusive and school buses are safe.

“We will follow the state department’s guidelines,” she said. “We are committed to providing safety for the children in transportation and every aspect of education.”

Wagoner said she is looking at some of the schools that are testing the seatbelts to see how it works for them.

“We’ve looked at some of the research,” Wagoner said. “There are some schools in Alabama that are piloting the research. It will be interesting to see how that works.”

Wagoner said the current research is giving mixed signals about the necessity of seatbelts on buses.

“It would take awhile for us to decide that’s something we want to do,” she said.