All Florida school buses must be equipped with seat belts for every passenger. Children must wear those seatbelts while the bus is in motion.
This important safety feature can save lives in a collision or crash that sends a bus off the road. It’s still critical that other drivers on the road obey traffic laws regarding stopped school buses. Children with seatbelts on are much less likely to be hurt, but they can still suffer serious injuries.
Of course, children boarding or getting off school buses won’t have protection and collisions can easily prove life-threatening. Florida drivers should be cautious any time they see children near a bus, near the road, or in the street. They should take care even beyond what Florida traffic laws require.
What Type of Seat Belts Are Required on Florida School Buses?
Newer school buses in Florida are required to provide seat belts for students. The Florida statute involved currently only requires lap belts for children.
- Any bus purchased new after the year 2000 must have seat belts
- The bus must have working lap belts for every student traveling on the bus
- Seatbelts must meet federal safety standards
Florida Motor Vehicle Statute 316.6145 details the standards private and public schools transporting students are held to:
“1)(a) Each school bus that is purchased new after December 31, 2000, and used to transport students in grades pre-K through 12 must be equipped with safety belts or with any other restraint system approved by the Federal Government in a number sufficient to allow each student who is being transported to use a separate safety belt or restraint system. These safety belts must meet the standards required under s. 316.614. A school bus that was purchased prior to December 31, 2000, is not required to be equipped with safety belts.”
In June of 2024, WFLA-TV reported that school buses with three-point seatbelts (with shoulder straps) will be included on newer buses. Blue Bird Buses announced a list of new safety features included with their newest models. There’s been no word on when those buses will start appearing in our state. Several Florida school districts use Blue Bird vehicles in their bus fleets, including Miami-Dade County and Broward County.
Safe Driving Around Florida Schools and School Buses
Even with required seatbelts on board, children taking the bus each day need the complete attention of local drivers to have the best chance to get to school and back home safely.
Drivers should always monitor for young pedestrians in school zones and out on the roads when they meet school buses picking up and dropping off students. Drivers should travel the speed limit or slower when seeing children nearing the street. Motorists must always be able to stop to prevent an accident if necessary.
Drivers in both directions on a street or highway must stop when seeing a school bus with a stop-arm extended and flashing lights. The exception is when drivers are on a divided highway. Drivers traveling in the opposite direction of the bus on a highway with a concrete barrier in the center or a suitably large enough natural barrier wouldn’t have to stop for a bus on the other side.
For more information, you can visit our pages on what drivers should do when encountering a stopped Florida school bus or the traffic laws for school zones.
Earning Support For a Child After a Fort Lauderdale School Bus Accident
If your child is hurt in a school bus accident, you should speak to a skilled Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyer about holding at-fault parties fully responsible. In some cases, a reckless driver is to blame and must be held accountable for the cost of the medical care a child will need. In some cases, a school system may be liable for damaged seatbelts that didn’t protect your child. The school system could be liable for hiring an unsafe bus driver.
Contact us to schedule a free consultation and tell us what happened to your child. Let us know about your family’s biggest hardships since the accident and then let us go to work holding insurers fully accountable.
If you need our help with your case, you won’t need to have any money to hire us. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you and your child. Then our fee comes out of the car accident settlement check your family receives.
