Why are seat belts compulsory in cars but not on buses? -

[Death Grip]

I get it from a practicality point of view but in terms of safety, it makes no sense at all.
Unless it is all based on the tons of extra training that bus drivers have to do.
But that doesn't account for road users.

 

[The Manglement]

Because it would cost the government money. The government is fine passing safety legislation when other people have to pay for them.

 

[BONE_Buddy]

Because healthcare/insurance is socialized*, and the government cannot be sued directly.

It sounds stupid, but that really that is the reason.

*Not really but for our purposes it works as a half-decent byword for the current weird mess that is the US Healthcare/Insurance complex.

 

[SigSauer]

I’ve always hated getting pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt. I think the idea of enforcing people to wear seatbelts is a bit freedom crushing and I’m not even a libertarian.

 

[Emperor Julian]

The impracticality of enforcing it, the general public are idiots who struggle with basic actions such as "get on bus, sit down and get off bus once we arrive at your location." trying to make them do something that complicated is a total ordeal.

 

[Duke Nukem]

It's another one of those bullshit rules designed to give the cops something to do when there's no actual crime. I say hey if you don't want to wear a seatbelt or a helmet it's not my problem, probably a good idea to do so but I seriously think law enforcement would have more important things to do than ticket people over this. Like beating up pot smoking hippies and shooting black people, you know, the things they joined up for in the first place.

 

[mr.moon1488]

Don't know about city buses, but I asked a teacher about that when I was a kid, and she said it was because kids liked to flog each other with the buckles.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

something something nanny state

 

[Biggie Smalls' Taint]

Because one person flying out of a car isn't nearly as funny as a bus turning a dozen passengers into confetti.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

Questions of enforcement aside, it's also likely due to the fact that a bus is much heavier. Seat belts are mostly to keep you in your seat during a collision, which ends up slowing the car down rather quickly whereas your body wants to keep moving due to inertia. It's a lot harder to instantly slow down a bus, so a seat belt is less of a concern (unless you're running into a brick wall or something in which case the seat belt probably won't help).

 

[MelodyNelson]

In most countries the seatbelts wouldn't last five minutes before being slashed. And then the bus company would be open to law suits from people who didn't get a seatbelt. Because people are godawful.

I don't have any problem with the law for seatbelts in cars. If you wanted you could save up enough money and build your own road and drive up and down it as much as you like without a seatbelt but while you're on public roads just buckle up. It's not hard and it saves lives.

Either that or the police, ambulances or any other remotely government-funded organisation should be able to ignore anyone bleeding out because they were too individual to use a seatbelt.

 

[Clop]

Questions of enforcement aside, it's also likely due to the fact that a bus is much heavier. Seat belts are mostly to keep you in your seat during a collision, which ends up slowing the car down rather quickly whereas your body wants to keep moving due to inertia. It's a lot harder to instantly slow down a bus, so a seat belt is less of a concern (unless you're running into a brick wall or something in which case the seat belt probably won't help).

I was scrolling this thread with a bit of twitch on my face because I was worried nobody ever got the physics lesson in class but I'm glad to see someone knows that a bus ain't stopping when it hits another car. Indeed a seatbelt ain't doing much on the bus when the bus alone is plenty safe compared to a small car.

But similarly a motorcycle isn't going to get a seatbelt because getting thrown off is going to be way safer than staying on it since it has zero chance of not getting thrown around in pieces. Power and mass matter.

EDIT: Just to be clear, the important bit of a safety belt is to keep you from throwing yourself around and snapping your neck from the whiplash, or getting flung through the windshield.

 

[Randall Fragg]

Seatbelts shouldn’t be mandatory. We need more ways to weed the stupid out of the gene pool.

 

[User names must be unique]

Because anyone riding the bud is probably longing for death.

 

[Antipathy]

Because someone has to scrape the remains of the idiots who don't wear seatbelts off of the ground. If you want to kill yourself, use a noose or a plastic bag over the head, they're the cleanest ways out. Don't spray your corpse all over the goddamn place, otherwise your last act will be to inconvenience someone.

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

Because someone has to scrape the remains of the idiots who don't wear seatbelts off of the ground. If you want to kill yourself, use a noose or a plastic bag over the head, they're the cleanest ways out. Don't spray your corpse all over the goddamn place, otherwise your last act will be to inconvenience someone.

Anyone who takes a job where they know they'll be cleaning up that kind of thing and then complains about how much it inconveniences them or messes them up picked the wrong career path.

The OP's question is interesting because in a lot of places buses are handled by private companies working on government contracts. I think the actual reason for not forcing buses to strictly comply with seatbelt regulations might have more to do with the way buses are classified. Drivers of buses actually DO have to buckle up. Also, say you did enforce seatbelt laws on buses as well - how would an officer tell which passengers were and were not complying for the purposes of issuing a ticket? Who would get the ticket - the company, the driver or the passenger?

 

[Masamameki]

a bus ain't stopping when it hits another car.

, there's just not as much knockback when a bus gets hit, maybe a rough jostle but even then most people know to grab or hold on to something when that happens.

Edit:
Also, in things like school buses or even some regular buses, most of the seats are relatively cushioned and imo thats better than whacking your face against the hard plastic dashboard of a car.

 

[MelodyNelson]

I was scrolling this thread with a bit of twitch on my face because I was worried nobody ever got the physics lesson in class but I'm glad to see someone knows that a bus ain't stopping when it hits another car. Indeed a seatbelt ain't doing much on the bus when the bus alone is plenty safe compared to a small car.

But similarly a motorcycle isn't going to get a seatbelt because getting thrown off is going to be way safer than staying on it since it has zero chance of not getting thrown around in pieces. Power and mass matter.

EDIT: Just to be clear, the important bit of a safety belt is to keep you from throwing yourself around and snapping your neck from the whiplash, or getting flung through the windshield.

In some situations it could help, though. I've read about passengers being thrown out and trapped under the bus or hitting objects within them. But then you also read of people being trapped inside burning buses, where seatbelts might be just another problem.
But as I say, I don't think seatbelts would last very long on most buses.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

I’ve always hated getting pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt. I think the idea of enforcing people to wear seatbelts is a bit freedom crushing and I’m not even a libertarian.

Not to mention how can they prove you weren't wearing it?
It would just be your word against theirs.

Moneymaking honeypot.

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

Not to mention how can they prove you weren't wearing it?
It would just be your word against theirs.

Moneymaking honeypot.

General rule is that the cop's word trumps yours if you challenge the ticket. This is how it works for speeding tickets, too (this is why fighting a speeding ticket generally hinges on the cop simply not showing). Basically, if a cop really wanted to be an asshole he could issue whatever kind of citation he pleased and show up in court to make you eat it. There aren't many good avenues of recourse there. With speeding tickets the cop doesn't even have to provide evidence that his radar gun caught you, he can EYEBALL your speed and it'll stand in a court.

Spoiler

I knew someone who owned an old Jap-jeep (might have been a Suzuki Samurai) that basically couldn't go much over 65mph without SHAKING ITSELF APART. He got ticketed for exceeding a 70mph speed limit, cop was eyeballing him. Friend explained to a judge that the vehicle would need a strong tailwind, a downhill slope and fervent prayer to top 70mph, judge didn't care.