Avon Lake City Schools will have two buses with seat belts, when the 2019-2020 school year starts, making them only the second district in Northeast Ohio with such safety equipment.
After much research, the district decided to purchase two 70-passenger busses at $90,000 each, which arrive in June.
The buses will have three-point restraint seat belts and will only be used for field trips and travel for sports events as a part of a pilot program, Superintendent Bob Scott says.
“We will have a lot of professional development with the bus drivers so this will give us a really good view of what seat belts are like on school buses,” he says.
Last year, the National Transportation and Safety Board recommended states start requiring seat belts on all school buses and for manufacturers to make them standard equipment on new busses.
“Buses are the safest way to transport kids to school,” Scott says. “They are compartmentalized and that is a real good strategy to keep kids inside the buses. The seat belts are mainly looking at side impact and rollovers.”
Beachwood was the first district in the area to have seatbelts on buses, starting in 2018.