Seat belts in a bus?

demodriver · April 28, 2011, 12:43:05 PM

Ok anyone know what the laws are throughout the country? I plan on installing belts for my children but what is the law for adults?

JohnEd · April 28, 2011, 01:46:36 PM

Every seat occupied must have a belt. Apparently that includes the john if you will use it while underway. How many do you think comply with all those? I would keep the kids strapped in for a couple reasons other than safety and me being charged with a felony slapping while driving angry.

John

artvonne · April 28, 2011, 02:00:53 PM

Im not so sure. Transit Buses and School buses dont require belts, and I dont believe party buses/limousines have them. Certainly the driver is required, as I would imagine any other front seat passengers.

happycamperbrat · April 28, 2011, 02:10:28 PM

Im not sure how reliable this is. i just did a quick google and came up with this page which says the laws for each state http://www.rvhelpdesk.com/seatbelt-laws.html

demodriver · April 28, 2011, 07:25:11 PM

Quote from: artvonne on April 28, 2011, 02:00:53 PM
Im not so sure. Transit Buses and School buses dont require belts, and I dont believe party buses/limousines have them. Certainly the driver is required, as I would imagine any other front seat passengers.

This is what made me wonder. Either way my family will usually be belted in but I was just curious.

Jriddle · April 28, 2011, 07:37:19 PM

I am not sure what the GOV. would say, but the seats and seat belt attachment points we install need to be engineered. I did what I thought was right but would bet they would not be legal if we were called into court.

John

chev49 · April 29, 2011, 07:51:26 AM

Well, in Oregon, not all seats have to have a seat belt.. ie - transits, etc... and I can show you 6 of my cars that do not have seat belts, and i'm not going to install them, and they are legal.. (Now if i install parts of a seat belt system in any of them, i will have to install the whole thing, but thats another story) If you run a non seat belt car, at least put in a collapable steering column...

JohnEd · April 29, 2011, 03:40:43 PM

Quote from: happycamperbrat on April 28, 2011, 02:10:28 PM
Im not sure how reliable this is. i just did a quick google and came up with this page which says the laws for each state http://www.rvhelpdesk.com/seatbelt-laws.html

Brat,

Thank you for that. Given that 25 states clearly require that ALL passengers have a belt how could anybody build their bus accommodating and less? Even if it isn't a law that is being driven down your throat by that infernal Fedural Gummint, might not some parents and themselves, in fact, want them? The Air Force pushed them on me in 65 and I haven' stopped thanking them for the lives of my wife and children since that Pontiac, when they were a real cars, hit us head-on with us in our VW in 66. Thank You My Gummint! Mine!

That ain't guarantee that I will vote CONservative cause they were in the corner of the Big Three and fought the law tooth and nail. The insurance companies had scads of data to show that seat-belts saved lives and prevented serious injury and harped on how much savings could be passed on to the Amurkan Consumer. Funny this is that the death and serious injury stats plummeted but we, at I, never saw any reduction in insurance costs after the law was enacted.

Love Ya,

John

gus · April 29, 2011, 05:26:09 PM

I've been saved by seat belts both in a small airplane crash and a minivan crash.

It takes pretty much an idiot to drive or fly anything without belts when belts installation is possible. This also includes all my old timers.

Just my experienced opinion of course!!!

chev49 · April 29, 2011, 07:56:05 PM

We should also install certified roll cages with proper 5 point belt support if we are going to do it right..seat belts do not properly support the human body like the 5 point will. In a bus, major reinforcement in front of the driver should also be done.

happycamperbrat · April 29, 2011, 11:05:42 PM

So for good seat belt installation, Im assuming they would be attached to the steel frame with a large bolt (size?) and nut. There would be sandwiched a steal plate........ or maybe this should be welded together?

JohnEd · April 30, 2011, 06:00:50 AM

Quote from: happycamperbrat on April 29, 2011, 11:05:42 PM
So for good seat belt installation, Im assuming they would be attached to the steel frame with a large bolt (size?) and nut. There would be sandwiched a steal plate........ or maybe this should be welded together?

The wood floor in my old Winnie is 1 inch plus thick and they used 5/8 " bolts and 2 1/2 inch wide fender washers top and bottom. Driver and co-pilot are bolted thru the steel floor. Machine fine thread. There must bbe a spec somewhere but I go with what was done before that met it.

The problem I met was that the seat had to be mounted to the floor with the same structural complexity. I had belts in the dinette and the dinnette was seriously mounted. My swivel was never mounted and belted so it was, technically, not a legal seat while underway.

FIVE point harness? If your bus is doing 190 MPH on the Taladega back stretch then I think you would have to be completely NUTS to not be wearing a 5 point harness and have a monster cage and re-enforced front section. If you aren't visiting Taladega then I think you are pretty much nuts, to the same degree, to consider installing all that tons of stuff. Trying to hold the line on cynical responses with this and not doing all that well. no

here

john

gus · April 30, 2011, 04:27:58 PM

There is no such thing as complete protection.

There is, however, such a thing as common sense.

My bus belts are attached to the floor. It all depends on how well your seats are attached. Bus plywood floors are not the best but anything is better than nothing.

Even if the belt installation does not meet all specs it will still slow down the final collision speed of ones body with something else. Every little bit helps.

I have hit some huge bumps in highways that probably would have thrown me out of the seat had it not been for the belt. My present belt has no shoulder strap but that will soon be fixed.

My antique airplane belt had no shoulder strap either but it still saved my life. My minivan belt also had no shoulder strap but I was in the back.

ArtGill · April 30, 2011, 06:09:07 PM

In the second half of the 60's I was working my way through college with an ambulance service I remember that with almost all roll overs there was a death. Today if you hear about a death in a rollover, it will because they didn't have a seat belt on. Seat Belts, air bags, stronger doors and all the other changes really increase you odd's of survival. In our coaches we need to make sure the frig and microwave have their seat belts on.

Art

chev49 · April 30, 2011, 08:28:23 PM

and for sure the coffee pot... as i've tried that one more than once...