A recent Indiana school bus crash involving the death of a driver and a student has some parties calling for the installation of seat belts in the state’s school buses. Officials say the installations would be far too expensive, though, and the verdict is still out on whether such installations would actually improve student safety.

Michael LaRocco, the state education department’s director of school transportation, says it would cost about $160 million to equip all of Indiana’s 16,000 school buses with seat belts, and that neither the state nor individual districts can afford the cost.

“I like the idea of them,” said LaRocco. “But in a realistic world, it’s just not reasonably functional for us to do that.”

Buses are significantly heavier than cars and distribute the force of a crash differently. Riders feel less impact than they would in a car, and the seats are designed to absorb some impact in a crash.

While some medical organizations endorse school bus seat belts, the National Highway Transportation Safety Board (NHTSB) indicates there is no significant safety advantage in such restraints.

School buses remain one of the safest modes of transportation, even without the addition of seat belts. With the cost of installation so high and the benefits questionable, it is unlikely that Indiana will be adding seat belts any time soon.

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