Bus Safety

Dear Mr./Mrs. President,

An issue that concerns me, that needs more attention at a higher level in today's society is bus safety. I feel that this topic does not receive enough attention for its severity. According to Kalee Thompson, author of “Unacceptable Risk: Cheap busses, fatal rides,” “about 70% of people killed by bus accidents are a result of being ejected from the vehicle.” Meaning that out of all of the deaths caused by bus accidents, 70% have been due to being ejected from the vehicle, most likely from not having a seatbelt on to keep them strapped into their seats. If we had seatbelts in all of our busses, we could prevent this statistic from getting any higher, and prevent many deaths. Aside from just the seat belts, here are some more reasons why bus safety needs to be updated and improved to help prevent injury/death.

“On May 31 [2012], there was another deadly crash... It careened 381 feet before it rolled onto its roof and finally skidded to a rest another 80 feet from where it had left the highway. The roof was crushed and the windows shattered. Like most motor-coaches, the 37-year-old bus had no passenger seatbelts….All 58 passengers had to be transported to area hospitals, dozens with serious injuries. Four passengers died. The only person who didn’t require professional care was the driver 37-year-old Kin Yiu Cheung. He was also the only person on the bus whose seat was equipped with a seatbelt.” This crash is proof that seat belts on a bus could save lives. “It should be should be utterly uncontroversial.” said Mark Rosekind administrator of the NHTSA (National Highway traffic safety administration).The only uninjured person during the accident had been the only one who had worn a seat belt. In this single bus accident four lives could have been saved and many injuries prevented. This is why seatbelts are necessary to our buses. Our children ride buses to school each day. Everyone who rides a bus would be much safer if there was seatbelts to keep them strapped in in case of emergency.

Today a man/woman can fail a background check for a trucking job then go fill a full time job as a bus driver being in control of up to 60 lives at a time. Bus drivers are nearly invulnerable to law enforcement due to police not wanting to to get involved with a bus load of upset passengers. This makes reckless bus driving a very common sight. In may of 2011 in a series of 3000 unannounced safety inspections resulted in “315 unsafe buses and 127 unfit drivers being taken off the road.” According to the article “Unacceptable risk: cheap buses fatal rides” By Kalee Thompson. Between January and October 2011 37 bus companies had been shut down and over a dozen more considered unsatisfactory. A bus company with the name of Sky Express had had their drivers cited for fatigue 48 times in 2 years. Companies with no regard or care the quality buses they run or the health of the drivers they employ.

We need to increase bus safety because it hasn't been updated in the last 20 years. Buses lacking are seat belts and are in bad condition. Under qualified drivers and unfit drivers are taking endangering lives of many as they are put in control of nearly 100 people and driven for hours on end. But safety needs to improve. Lives are being taken Mr/mrs. President are you going to allow such a simple problem to attack your people?

Sincerely,

Christian P.