Shared Seatbelt on a School Bus

[mkksmom]

Does this sound right to you? My dd said she had to share the seatbelt with her friend on the bus. This is not the regular bus that they usually ride. The regular bus is  in for repairs. There are 3 girls in the seat, including my dd, and only 2 seatbelts, so she said she had to share with another child. Is this safe? I think I'll ask the driver to move her seat to an open seat unless I can find something telling me this is normal and safe. 

[sunnymw]

School buses in general are very safe w/o seatbelts, but two people in one seat belt is never a good thing.

[MunchiesMom]

How is that - how  are school buses safe without seatbelts? I've always wondered this!

[an_aurora]

Buses are in general much safer than personal vehicles, in part due to professional (trained) drivers, their huge size, and compartmentalization.  Think eggs in an egg carton versus in a shoe box--padded seats contain children very well in a sudden stop or crash.  

[ProtoLawyer]

Years ago, I worked at a camp, and some of the camp buses had seatbelts--one shared belt per seat. They were intended less for safety in a crash (as others pointed out, buses are already very safe), and more to keep the kids from standing up and wandering around while the bus was moving.