Transport Canada looks to make seat belts mandatory on school buses

Seat belts could soon become mandatory on school buses in Canada under proposed regulations now out for review. (Photo: Kurt Bauschardt/Flickr)

OTTAWA — Seat belts could soon become mandatory on school buses in Canada under proposed regulations now out for review.

In an online notice, Transport Canada says the proposal would improve safety for children caught up in severe crashes, especially rollovers.

As it is, the key requirements on buses are to have high-back padded seats closely spaced together, known as compartmentalization, to protect riders without the need for seat belts.

Canada has no requirements for seat belts on any size of school bus, meaning there is no way to ensure that seat belts installed on some buses are installed safely and correctly, the agency says.

School buses can have lap-only seat belts, but Transport Canada says they can raise the risk of injury compared to existing features on buses, which is why the agency is looking to require over-the-shoulder belts instead.

The proposed regulations in the Canada Gazette stress that school buses are safe to ride.

There hasn’t been a single child fatality on a school bus in Canada since 2008 and only one per cent of all school-age child fatalities in the preceding decade were on a school bus.

Transport Canada says children are over 16 times more likely to be killed walking to school than while riding a school bus.