We were devastated to hear about the fatal school bus accident that occurred yesterday in Chesterfield. The accident happened in the morning hours and it involved a Chesterfield elementary school bus and a dump truck. The crash sent the bus into a utility pole and resulted in the death of one student and another 17 were injured—3 are reported to be in critical condition.

According to reports from the Associated Press, the girl who passed was the daughter of New Jersey State Trooper, Sgt. Anthony Tezsla. She was a triplet and it was reported that her two sisters, who were also on the bus, are in critical condition at Camden’s Cooper University Hospital.

Our deepest sympathies go out to the Tezsla family and the families of the other students injured in this horrific accident.

School Bus Seatbelt Laws

This accident brings up questions of the safety of school buses. A report compiled by the Connecticut General Assembly investigated the school bus seat belt laws in various states as well as the federal standards in place. According to the report, the federal standard states that all buses under 10,000 pounds must be equipped with seat belts but not buses over that weight. There are only six states that have statutes in place requiring seat belts on these larger buses: California, Florida, Louisiana, New York, Texas, and New Jersey.

Although it is required that school buses have lap belts in New Jersey there is not much in the way of enforcing students to wear them. The statute (N.J. Stat. Ann. § 39:3B-10 and § 39:3B-11) explains that students are required to wear their seat belt while the bus is in motion but the owner and operator of the bus is not liable should injury result from the student’s failure to wear the belt.

There has been a lot of discussion as to why there are not stricter standards for seat belts on these vehicles to which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the following explanation:

There is no question that seat belts play an important role in keeping occupants safe in theses vehicles, however school buses are different by design and use a different kind of safety restraint system that works extremely well.
Large school buses are heavier and distribute crash forces differently than do passenger cars and light trucks…NHTSA’s 2002 Report to Congress found that the addition of lap belts did not improve occupant protection for the severe frontal impacts that were studied for that report…[The National Academy of Sciences] also stated that the funds used to purchase and maintain seat belts might be better spent on other school bus safety programs and devices that could save more lives and reduce more injuries.

The full text of NHTSA’s response to school bus safety can be found here. We believe that all students should wear their seat belts while on the bus. Again we send our most heartfelt thoughts to the families of the children involved in this accident.