To think seatbelts on public buses should be compulsory!

[MilaMae]

To cut a long story short DD and I were travelling on a public bus. The driver had to break suddenly DD 3 flew off her seat and under several seats. How on earth she managed to not break anything I'll never know.

The driver and DD were both very upset. It wasn't his fault at all, he had to break. I don't know how bus companies are getting away with this it's very dangerous.

DD and I won't be doing it again, I'll be driving, it cost a fortune for a 10 min journey anyway

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dd either sits on my lap or in the pushchair on the bus

on a coach recently there were belts, i put one on her as requested, she is two was that wrong. this coach travels on the motorway and has always been no standing passengars though

dh would laugh at me though, he says i should be grateful, as in some countries i would have to sit on the roof!!!

its not the inconvenience, its just unpractical and ineffective
i have been flung about on [rare] occasions in my long career of public transport use
but lap belts can seriously hurt small children

The Department of Transport stats basically put bus transport as the safest mode of transport:

"Bus or coach travel have the lowest rates amongst road modes, these are of the same order of magnitude as for travel by rail."

Coaches have seat belts because on the whole they are more likely to travel on a motorway at higher speeds.

Am slightly sceptical that a seatbelt would cause more injury to a child than being thrown through a windscreen onto a busy motorway

Why then are the DoT and EU moving towards compulsory seatbelts on school buses (in ER's link from the Independant)?

Either way it's slightly sad for the environment that I have no choice but to use my car and not buses when travelling with my dc.

We are in Devon not a city and go into the city on a bus that includes a very fast dual carriage way/motorway,hideous slip road notorious accident black spot. The bus travels across country in and out of towns and villages and countryside.

Not all buses by any means travel purely in cities. Down here buses do travel at speed

Lovely idea. Seat belts for all. But I cannot tell you when the last time I got a seat on a bus or (even more laughably) a train might have been. On our trains there are more people standing than sitting. Just doesn't work in reality.

seatbelt injuries

another article here

So how is our bus company getting away with it ???

We have had seats with proper belts on that route they must be coaches then. I'm wondering if we're supposed to have a coach for our route and they're not sticking to it.

Also the previous week we had a Polish driver who had his friend standing next to him the whole time chatting. The driver kept turning round to him on said busy motorway. I remember grabbing dd onto my lap as was already anxious about no belts.

We were sitting next to the sign that said "Do not distract the driver" {hmm}

So FAQ people with dc under 5 shouldn't really use buses then, definately not down here if it's impossible to fit a safe belt.

well in theory - under the age of 12 or 152cm - the legal age/height to use a normal adult seat belt.

Actually my DS has twice been on a school trip on the service bus without seat belt.

Milamae, You'll probably find that the coach/bus in question is occasionally used on a school run which is why it has seat belts fitted. All DCC contracted school buses must be fitted wth belts.

When the council tender service routes, vehicles do not have to be fitted with belts, and if the bus company are operating the route themselves then they can decide on seatbelts.

StewieGriffinsmom - there is no law about seatbelts on coaches on motorways. There is no law at all that says belts must be fitted on coaches or buses. Only that if the belt is fitted then it must be worn.