On May 14, 1988, Kentucky suffered what remains the worst bus accident ever in the United States. 24 children and three adults on a church outing from Radcliff died when the bus they were riding was struck head-on by a drunk driver heading the wrong way on Interstate 71 just outside Carrollton. Although the bus involved in that accident was owned by a church rather than a school system, the incident led to the adoption of a number of safety measures for school buses in the state. Additional emergency exits were required along the side and roof of the bus. Maximum occupancy was reduced. The flashing white light was added to buses' roofs.
You would think that while they added all of these new safety measures to the buses that they would add seat belts. But they didn't. I know that seat belts would not help in an accident like the one I just mentioned but it would help in others. For example, you may of heard about a past tragedy that took the life of a southern Kentucky girl. The driver loses control, the bus rolls down an embankment, a child is thrown from a window and crushed. In this wreck a seat belt would have made a difference. Seat belts annually save thousands of lives in automobile accidents. What could possibly be wrong with having kids wear seat belts on a school bus?
