Houston Bus Crash Lawyer

Seat Belt Injuries in Bus Crashes

The controversy over putting seat belts in school buses, public transportation buses, and commercial buses has been raging for years. Laws concerning the subject vary widely from state to state, district to district. Though some argue that the compartmentalized structural design of bus seats provides adequate protection against a bus crash, studies have shown that such a safety feature is significantly less effective in anything except rear end or head-on collisions.

While the topic of whether or not to mandate seat belts in buses continues to be discussed, many people overlook the equally important topic of how the seat belts, if any, should be installed.

Seat Belt Safety

Though seat belts do, undoubtedly, save lives, improperly worn, designed, or installed seat belts are also capable of causing serious – even fatal – injuries. Seat belts essentially work by restraining occupants during a collision, preventing them from striking hard surfaces or being ejected from the vehicle entirely. However, during a crash, the restraint provided by a seat belt means that the entire forward momentum of the occupant’s body is absorbed by the area covered by the belt.

Some seat belts are designed simply as straps which encircle the occupant’s waist. However, such a design has been shown to cause severe damage to ribs and internal organs, because the impact is concentrated in too small of an area. Most modern seat belts use a three-point design which allows the addition of a shoulder strap which runs from shoulder to hip, distributing the impact more evenly acrros the body. How such a system would be implemented on buses remains to be seen.

If you or your loved ones have been hurt in a bus accident, call 800-220-9341 right away to speak to a Houston bus crash lawyer at Williams Kherkher about your case.