Things that make you go "WTF?"

[unixronin]

Something I've thought about before, and which Pirate asked about on the way to the school bus stop this morning.  Most states these days have mandatory seat-belt laws for everyone.  Here in New Hampshire, seat belt use is recommended for everyone, but still mandatory for children (up to age 18, actually).  You can be cited and fined for not having a seat belt on your child.

So how come school buses don't have seat belts?

On a slightly different subject, NPR reported on the way back from the bus stop that medical insurers in New Hampshire are considering not paying hospitals to treat conditions caused by medical errors.

Sure makes sense to me... if I'm a mechanic, and I'm working on your car, and I fuck something up that was fine when you brought the car in, you should expect it to get fixed on my dime, not yours.  Why should a hospital be any different?

Comments

[fatcook.livejournal.com]

DFIK!
I've asked that question myself, and have been stonewalled by the both the school board and administration.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

The rationales I've heard are:

1. The marginal safety gain will be small. School buses are one of the safest modes of transport on the road, with the injury and death rate per passenger-mile much smaller than that of private automobiles transporting children to school.

2. Cost. Equipping buses with belts is gonna cost money that some school districts can't afford. Coupled with (1.) above, the marginal lives saved per dollar spent will not be worth it.

3. Expected poor compliance. Herding school children is like herding cats. Can you picture getting an entire bus full of them to fasten their seat belts?

4. The time involved in making sure everyone is belted in before the bus moves will result in unacceptable delays in already tight schedules. Not only that, other road users are prohibited from passing the stopped school bus, thus creating delays for other road users.

5. The belts and buckles will make nice weapons for the kids to hit each other in the head with.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Because people don't die as often when the mechanic refuses to fix their car for free.

Unless hospitals are ORDERED (or bullied, by lawsuits) to fix problems stemming from medical errors, I suspect plenty of people will die. Fixing medical errors is really, really expensive, after all, and hospitals are businesses.

That said I have no sympathy for the medical insurers here. They're defining a new, very amorphous category of things they won't cover -- just like they always do, because it helps *their* bottom line.

Why do we let companies determine our health, again?

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

On a school bus, a seat belt is not regarded as a safety device. It is regarded as a means of restraint and control, limiting the motion of the student.

So I hypothesize due to the fact that some school buses do have seat belts. The short buses, the ones that you put handicapped or special-ed kids on. Every year that my son has ridden a short bus, I've been required to sign a waiver permitting the bus driver and attendant to "apply restraints to" my son. That may not be a direct quote but it's pretty close.

[dafydd.livejournal.com]

On smaller busses, I'm willing to be convinced.

On 40' busses? No. Never.

Why?

Go find a friendly bus driver. Take a big child and a small child with you.

You sit the the driver's seat, and look in that little mirror above your head.

The big child (The "bully.") and little child (The "victim.") sit in the back row.

The bully pantomimes wrapping the seat belt around the neck of the victim, below the back of the seat ahead of them, whilst maintaining an innocent expression.

How easy is that to see when your prepared for, and looking for, it?

How easy do you think that would be to see if you were busy driving on a snowy day?

Seatbelts on 40' busses is a timebomb to the first day a strangled child isn't found until the bus gets back to its base.

I drove those busses for 18 months. I will never advocate that they get mandatory seat belts.