Bill To Require Full Seatbelts On School Buses Introduced In NJ

MORRIS COUNTY — Following a fatal school bus crash in Mount Olive and new recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board, a group of New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill that would require all new school buses to have 3-point lap and shoulder seatbelts.

Identical bills have been introduced in the Senate and the Assembly that would require all new school buses to have "three-point lap and shoulder seat belts for each seating position on the bus or other child restraint systems that are in conformity with applicable federal standards."

The Assembly bill is sponsored by Democrats Yvonne Lopez, Daniel Benson, Lisa Swain and Chris Tully. The Senate version was introduced by Democrat Samuel Thompson.

“After the tragic crash which senselessly took the lives of 2 innocent souls from my district and injured others, it is clear that our school bus safety standards must change,” said Swain. “We must not allow another tragedy like this to happen again.”

“There is nothing more important to us in the legislature than protecting the lives of our children and students,” said Tully. “After the crash which claimed the lives of 2 of my constituents and injured others, we knew we had to act swiftly to ensure that we can prevent further tragedy.”

New Jersey is one of several states that currently requires lap belts on all large school buses. Several days after the bus crash in Mount Olive that killed a student and a teacher, the NTSB released recommendations that all states require full three-point seatbelts. Those new guidelines were issued as the result of two deadly bus crashes in November 2016.

The NTSB is not investigating the Mount Olive crash, although they did gather information the day-of.

The bill would affect any school bus built 180 days after its signed into law. Any existing school buses would be exempt from the requirements.

The May 17 school bus crash on Rt. 80 killed teacher Jennifer Williamson-Kennedy and 10-year-old student Miranda Faith Vargas, and injured 43 others, some critically. It's not clear if shoulder seat belts would have reduced the number of injuries.

A student on-board the Paramus bus at the time of the crash spoke publicly about the role of seatbelts, saying he didn't think lap belts were enough.

"Paramus, as good as it is, I think we need more safety precautions, like a three-point seat belt," Peter Caminiti III said at a Paramus Board of Education meeting last week.

His father, Peter Caminiti Jr. said bus drivers should also take a more active role in buckling up.

"Bus drivers should always check to make sure their passengers are buckled because a lot of students had faulty seat belts," the elder Caminiti said. "As soon as they would latch, they were loose."

Another student told local media outlets that the lap belts helped keep students strapped to their seats as the bus rolled over.

"I heard a scraping sound and we toppled over onto the highway," fifth-grader Theo Ancevski told the Daily Record. "A lot of people were screaming and they were hanging from their seat belts."

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