December 20, 2001
16 hurt in bus crash
By HEATHER LOURIE and KELLY TOKARSKI
The Orange County Register

15 students, driver are injured, fueling a debate over seatbelt laws.

ALISO VIEJO -- Fifteen children suffered head and neck injuries Wednesday after a school bus was struck by a car, prompting consumer advocates to question why California doesn't have seatbelts on buses.

The children's injuries might have been prevented if there were restraint systems, say police and fire officials.

"Those children are like a thing of popcorn thrown around in that bus," said Sandra Schultz, 59, of Laguna Niguel. The mother of five was outraged.

"They're just vulnerable," she said. "This is about little innocent lives, and that's where the tragedy is."

The 8:30 a.m. collision, at the corner of Cedarbrook and Windsong, happened after the bus was struck by Tom O'Neil, 24, of Mission Viejo, who was attempting to make a left turn at the intersection.

O'Neil said he thought the bus, traveling on Cedarbrook, was going to stop.

"We were just on our way to work and made the wrong turn; it turned out to be a bad turn," O'Neil said. "I just hope everyone's OK -- it's a bad deal."

The speed limit on Cedarbrook is 40 mph, but authorities said bus driver Ingrid Baker, 42, of Aliso Viejo, was probably traveling under that and wasn't at fault.

While 15 students were treated and released for minor injuries at area hospitals, California Highway Patrol officer Joe Escobar said the injuries might have been lessened or even prevented if the students were wearing seatbelts.

"Every other vehicle on the road has seatbelts; I don't understand why school buses don't," said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Brian Chadburn.

According to CHP records, the bus was inspected in August, and there were no mechanical problems.

The Capistrano Unified School District bus -- carrying 60 students ages 11-13 -- was on its way to Aliso Viejo Middle School.

"We go on field trips a lot, and it would be safer to have seat belts,"
said Tonia Morton, 10, an Oak Grove Elementary student. "Especially this
time of year because there are so many accidents, and the buses are
bouncy."

By 2002, every new or leased school bus in California was to be required to have lap and shoulder belts. But that date was pushed back three years because manufacturers were reluctant to install seat-belt systems on buses without specifications from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is expected to issue a new report in the spring.

New York and New Jersey require lap belts on school buses.

Former Assemblyman Martin Gallegos, D-Baldwin Park, who wrote the bill requiring the extra safety protections, said the belts would increase the cost of an average bus by 3 percent to 5 percent.

Officials who represent bus companies said the current system works, and that school buses are the safest mode of transportation - more school- age children are killed as pedestrians or in car wrecks.

School buses currently use a system called "compartmentalization." Seat backs are padded, about 21 to 24 inches high, and are designed to keep students in the seating compartment while absorbing crash forces.

"That is very effective," said Robin Leeds, a regulatory liaison with the industry's National School Transportation Association in Arlington, Va. "It doesn't depend on the student to do anything."

Local districts say lawsuits and limited funds are significant issues.

"If a seat belt isn't adjusted just right, it can do more damage than if it wasn't there," said Stefanie Root, Irvine Unified School District bus safety training coordinator. "I'm not sure why they're going to mandate seat belts unless it's just for public relations. Students wouldn't be required to wear them. If the drivers were responsible for them wearing seat belts, they'd never get the kids home."

Patrick Tavernier, a transportation supervisor for the Capistrano distric where Wednesday's accident occurred, believes school buses are safe.

"The seating is designed to keep a child very protected because the seats are padded, and the kids sit above the impact zone," he said.

Still, the California Association of School Transportation Officials favors shoulder and lap belts on buses.

"Children will be safer, is the bottom line," said Doug Snyder, government-relations chair for the group.

Stephanie Tombrello, executive director of Torrance- based Safety Belt Safe U.S.A., said proposed laws only affect new buses - not ones on the road. And with a 20- to 25-year life span for a bus, reforms are already delayed too much, she said.

"Every time you postpone (new laws) like that, it gets farther and farther away," she said.

Phil Crothers, 42, of Aliso Viejo, said he sends his sixth-grade son to school in SUV car-pools with proper seat belts. Buses should have seat belts, he said.

"Just because it's a big vehicle doesn't mean they're safe," he said. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that they're going to bash their heads in an accident."