Next month, the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group will begin meeting. Governor Mike DeWine created it after an 11-year-old student from Northwestern Local Schools died in a school bus crash. The accident occurred last week in Clark County.
WYSO’s Kathryn Mobley spoke with the chair of the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group–Andy Wilson, Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety. He says the committee will hold public meetings as it interviews experts and examines issues linked to school bus safety.
Andy Wilson: Those are going to include a school bus regulation, school bus design and maintenance and inspections. What are the risk factors involved in the crash? What happens? What do we know about these crashes with respect to injury and the mechanics of injury to kids on the school buses? We're going to look at other school bus crashes that have happened throughout the country and look at lessons learned from those school bus crashes and make sure that we are implementing those lessons learned here in Ohio. We're going to look at the issue of seatbelts on school buses.
There's research all over the place on whether or not that is the safest mechanism for keeping our kids safe in these buses. But we need to look at that. We need to look at the research behind that. We need to look at the other states that are doing that. And we need to make a decision on whether or not that recommendation would be safest for our kids.
Kathryn Mobley: Whether or not seatbelts should be on Ohio's school buses. That's not a new issue. And in fact, in the state legislature, at least twice, it's been brought up by various state reps and it always dies in committee. Why is that?
Wilson: I think the problem is the research just isn't clear. I don't think there's a definitive study that shows that seatbelts on buses are the 100% solution in keeping our kids safe. I think there's arguments both ways. Again, we know that some states have done it. We want to look at those states and what they're doing. And if after all of the research is presented to this committee and if the experts on this committee feel that that is the proper recommendation or recommendation that we equip Ohio's school buses with seat belts, then then that's a recommendation that that will be made. But we certainly don't want to do that until we've had an opportunity to really look at all the studies out there, look at the other states that are doing it, and then consider all of the issues with respect to that recommendation.
Mobley: And states that have laws either requiring seat belts are used on all school buses or they make funding available include California, Nevada, Arizona, Louisiana, Iowa, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas. Ohio is not on that list. However, in Ohio, there are three school districts in the Cleveland area: Avon Lake, Beechwood and Hudson. Those school districts do require when a new school bus is purchased, it has to be equipped with seatbelts. And in fact, Beechwood goes so far as to require all of the schools in their district must use school buses that have seatbelts. Thus, there are school districts and states that are comfortable with the research that is out there. Why isn't that enough for the state of Ohio?
Wilson: I think that's the reason the governor wants to put this working group together. It'll be an opportunity for experts and people from other states who do this type of work or who have put the seatbelts on the bus to come in and talk about the issue, to talk about why they did it when other states aren't doing it.
Mobley: There are a lot of families across Ohio who need to use the school buses. That's the only way they can get their children to and from school. Andy, what do you want to say to those parents, to those families, to allay their fears?
Wilson: My youngest daughter is a student at Northwestern Local School District. We know a lot of people who had kids on that bus. We know a lot of people who were involved in this crash. But my daughter gets on a Northwestern local school district bus every day, and I have no doubt that it is the safest mode of transportation that I can provide for her to get to school. We love our kids so much that we don't want to do anything that we perceive could put them in danger. But these school buses are absolutely the safest mode of transportation that we can depend on to get our kids to and from school to the events that they go to that are school related.
In December, the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group will give Governor Mike DeWine recommendations.
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