![New Hampshire and Massachusetts Have the Most Unsafe School Buses in America](http://townsquare.media/site/701/files/2024/05/attachment-Untitled-design-2024-05-22T095825.387.jpg?w=980&q=75)
New Hampshire and Massachusetts Have the Most Unsafe School Buses in America
For essentially my whole life, I have wondered why school buses did not come equipped with seat belts.
We protect our children above anyone else in the world. We ALWAYS take care of kids first, then mothers, then fathers.
Yet the safety of school buses has always been (let's put it nicely) questionable. There is no federal standard for school buses. It is 100% up to the state.
With that, some states have added additional safety features to make kids safer, and their parents more comfortable with their little ones riding the school bus.
New York State and Arkansas are the two states with the safest school buses. Truthfully, they seem to be the only two states with any REAL safety features in place.
Both NY and AK require school buses to have seat belts AND a stop arm camera.
You know when a school bus stops and the stop sign comes out 90 degrees? It is unlawful to pass that. The stop sign is for traffic in both directions, signaling that a child may be crossing the street in front of the bus.
The stop-arm camera captures anyone who violates that law.
Seven states in the United States require seatbelts only in their school buses, and 20 states require the stop arm camera.
In New England, Maine, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are the only states that require a stop arm camera.
In New England, not ONE state requires a seatbelt.
In New Hampshire and Massachusetts...nothing. There are zero additional safety measures added to school buses. No stop arm camera. No seatbelt. Nothing.
Shouldn't we be doing more? I think BOTH safety features should be required in all states. I was shocked to see that there was nothing in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Good for Maine for requiring the stop-arm camera, but that only helps catch a criminal, not keep our kids safe.
Do you think school buses need more safety features?
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