This is what bus safety looks like in southern Arizona

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The focus on safety on school buses is reaching new heights following a crash on Interstate 10 Tuesday that injured dozens of kids and staff.

However, local safety administrators are pumping the brakes on concerns over school bus safety in southern Arizona.

“A school bus is the safest means of transportation for our students and passengers,” said Teresa Ramirez, the southern Arizona board member for the Transportation Administrators of Arizona.

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Statistically, it is safer for children to travel on a bus than a car, with an average of six student deaths per year to 2,000 in a car, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

However, to analyze what safety standards are in place for buses in southern Arizona, administrators have to look at each district individually.

“Every district has the opportunity to design a fleet that is specifically for the needs of that district,” Ramirez said.

A district like the Tucson Unified, which has the largest number of bus users in southern Arizona, requires larger buses.

It can be limiting for safety features like seatbelts compared to smaller districts in rural communities that can use smaller buses or caravans with seatbelts to transport students.

But one common thread between all these buses is the design of the seats which do protect the children.

“We have the panels that are extremely high where it protects our students from lunging forward. We have the anti-air brakes in most of our busses,” Ramirez said.

The large seat cushions or panels are familiar to anyone who rode a bus growing up as the length of the seat provides a cushion to brace any impact from a potential crash.

“In the event of having to stop quickly, really what they do is prevent a student to going over a seat,” Ramirez said.

While Arizona saw more than a 50% decrease in bus crashes from 2012 to 2022, according to data from the ADOT, many still question if the cushions are enough in a high-speed crash.

“Seat belts are independently different due to what district you’re at and what your necessity is,” Ramirez said.

In 2018, the NTSB recommended that every state require seatbelts on buses, but Arizona has not implemented it.

That means it’s up to the individual districts to implement what they see fit.

“Typically, districts get together and talk about what is needed or necessary in their own district and what they have come across,” Ramirez said.

TUSD just received a new fleet of buses, and 13 News reached out to see if there are different safety features like seatbelts on those buses but we have not received a response yet.

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