A Lowndes County School District bus sits freshly righted from being overturned Sept. 14 off Highway 45 near the Artesia Road intersection. In Mississippi, school buses are not required to have seat belts. Emma McRae/Dispatch Staff	
			Editor’s note: Do you want answers to questions about the Golden Triangle? Each week, Dispatch reporters set out to explain or update a timely, practical issue. Email your question to [email protected].
A sedan crossing Highway 45 near the Artesia Road intersection collided with a Lowndes County School District bus last week. The bus rolled 3 times, and 16 students were injured in the crash.
Since last week’s crash, some may be wondering: Why are school buses in Mississippi not required to have seat belts? What safety provisions allow buses not to have seat belts?
Why do school buses not have seat belts in Mississippi?
In Mississippi, state law says only vehicles designed to carry fewer than 15 passengers are required to have seat belts, with an additional exemption specifically given to buses.
Mississippi is not alone in this, as most states do not require seat belts on school buses. Only eight states – Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Texas – require seat belts to be installed in all school buses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Mississippi has considered legislation that would require seat belts on school buses in the past, including that proposed for the 2014 legislative session, but ultimately, it never passed.
Are school buses safe without seat belts?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which regulates safety standards for vehicles, says a system called “compartmentalization” keeps school bus passengers safe without needing seat belts.
Compartmentalization works by closely spacing strong seats with backing designed to absorb impact from a crash, according to NHTSA.
“The school bus is designed by the padded seats and closeness of the seats themselves to hinder the kids or occupants from moving around too much in a crash,” Mississippi Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Trooper Bryant Flake wrote in a text to The Dispatch. “Of course nothing is 100% safe-proof.”
School buses are highly regulated, safety tested and their large size provides additional protections by distributing crash forces, according to NHTSA. The NHTSA does recommend that small school buses weighing less than 10,000 pounds be equipped with seat belts.
On the other hand, the National Transportation Safety Board – which investigates major transportation accidents – issued a recommendation that all school buses in the country be equipped with seat belts following a 2018 investigation into two school bus crashes in Maryland and Tennessee that both resulted in fatalities. The board believes the lack of seat belts onboard school buses contributed to the severity of the crash in Tennessee.
Ultimately, the decision on whether to have seat belts on school buses is left up to the states.
Would seat belts have prevented injuries in the Sept. 14 crash?
Flake is not sure if seat belts would have prevented injuries in the Sept. 14 crash.
“I’m just glad everyone involved wasn’t hurt worse,” he said.
Fatalities in school bus related crashes are rare with an average of 107 deaths per year, according to data released by NHTSA in July.
That being said, the majority of fatalities that occur in school bus related crashes are not school bus occupants. Between 2015 and 2024, 70% of fatalities from school bus crashes were occupants of other vehicles and 15% were pedestrians, according to NHTSA data.
“I’m all for seatbelts in a car, but I could see why someone would or would not want seatbelts in a bus,” Flake said. “The school bus driver has a lot to handle too in making sure all kids are secure so they would be time consuming. Also, a bus has emergency exits whereas a car doesn’t.”
			
						
						
			
      
      
        Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.