Lawmakers consider school bus seatbelts

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - A House Committee is considering legislation that would require school buses in Rhode Island to have seat belts.

Advocates for seatbelts in school buses testified at a hearing Wednesday night held by the House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare.

Sophia Pendergast lost her daughter in a school bus accident back in 1985. She argued at  Wednesday night's meeting that thousands of students are hurt or killed every year because they aren't wearing seat belts on school buses.

"Children are required to be in seat belts in their family vehicldes, and it makes absolutely no sense [that school buses don't have seatbelts]," Pendergast said.

Six states already have laws requiring seat belts in school buses. Connecticut lawmakers are moving to do the same, in the wake of a school bus crash in January that killed at 16-year-old and injured a dozen other students.

The proposed law in Rhode Island would only apply to newly-purchased school buses, and would not include buses already in service.