# Infants/Toddlers on School Buses



## isfa (Apr 11, 2008)

DD is 23 months old, and is at a daycare center. She's in the toddler room, which is for toddlers aged 16 months to age 3. They go on 2-3 fieldtrips a year. The problem is... they take them on a school bus. No seatbelts, no car set (not that they can go in a school bus anyway, but there are special vans available).

Apparently, this is perfectly legal in our state. However, I am really uncomfortable with it.

I found this from the NHTSA: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/inju.../prekfinal.htm

Basically, it says that school buses are not safe for toddlers.

If the bus got in a crash, these little kids would just go flying. It horrifies me.

I have talked to the center, and they do not share my concerns AT ALL. They think this is perfectly safe. I'm planning to take the day off work for their next field trip, and drive DD myself. But I still am really uncomfortable that they do this. I mean, a 16 month old is a BABY. Maybe they would be safe on a caregiver's lap, but that's not what they're doing. This just seems really irresponsible. I am wondering whether it's worth it to keep pressuring them. We have even offerered to help cover the cost of getting one of the vans with carseats. I know they are available in our area. They were not interested.

Am I being unreasonable? Would this bother you? And does anyone have any studies about the safety of schoolbuses for infants/toddlers?

Thanks.


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## blessedwithboys (Dec 8, 2004)

car seats can be installed in school buses. maybe not all, but it is possible to find one that will fit her right and fit the bus right too.

did you print this page for them? i would let them know that they are henceforth required to install a seat for your dd, and what is more, you expect the person doing the install to be trained by a CPST to do so correctly.

or you can just take the day off which is what would do.


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## Tizzy (Mar 16, 2007)

I would absolutely not be comfortable with a toddler loose on a school bus.
I drive a school bus and my kids come with me every single day, but they have properly installed car seats. My new bus even has UAS/Latch hooks which makes me very happy to not be fiddling with 'H' clips and the likes with lap belts.

It scares me enough to know that the compartmentalization reasoning is only applicable to 40+ lbs - 5 of the kindergarten kids on my bus are nowhere near 40lbs. If it were my child, I would still be driving them to and from school in their own car seat.

In your position, I would drive my own children on the trip.


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## 2boyzmama (Jun 4, 2007)

My tiny 3 year old has been riding a bus to and from a special needs school since he was 2, and he's been in a 5-point harness carseat. I had to fight the school a bit about it, because the bus had integrated harnesses that they were putting him in, but he weighed only 23 pounds (now weighs 25.5) and did not fit well in the harnesses. They did end up providing him a carseat (which started a whole new issue of installing the seat correctly and adjusting the harness correctly). Eventually we got it all right, and he's now appropriately restrained in a 5-point harness carseat on a full-sized bus.


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## thefreckledmama (Jun 1, 2007)

Gah! This kills me! I love how a parent can be ticketed and such for not having their child in a proper restraint in their own vehicle (obviously safety issues aside), but "magically" being on a school bus without a restraint is completely safe.









I can remember being a teenager on the school bus and flopping all around in the seats, and even sometimes out of the seat-I can't even imagine toddlers who don't even have the ability try and stabilize themselves being in a similar situation.

I would definitely drive myself, and make it clear I do not consent to my child riding on the bus, ever.


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## ~Charlie's~Angel~ (Mar 17, 2008)

The fact that this is legal in your state baffles me! I would not be comfortable with that at all, and BOTH my kids are in the age rage of the kids going on these field trips. I can't imagine either of them, especially the little one, sitting on a school bus unrestrained. The image in my head doesnt even make sense!


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## isfa (Apr 11, 2008)

Thanks, everyone. This is very reassuring.


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