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Students to be transported on buses with seat belts after accident

Starting with the 2014-15 school year, the buses used at Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City, Mo., will be equipped with three-point seat belts, and a monitor will be on board to make sure that the students are strapped in. Officials make the decision after 22 students were injured last year when their bus tipped onto its side en route to a camp.

January 17, 2014
2 min to read


KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Students who attend a school here will soon be transported on buses equipped with three-point seat belts after an accident last year left 22 students injured, Fox 4 News reports.

Dr. Steve Bellis, head of school at the Pembroke Hill School, told the news outlet that officials at the school believe that the current safety systems built into school buses “are effective,” but given what happened with the accident, they “decided that it was important to seek out any possible enhancements in this area.”

In August 2013, 22 students sustained minor to moderate injuries when their school bus tipped onto its side en route to an overnight camp in Bonner Springs, Kan. The Kansas Highway Patrol told The Kansas City Star at the time that the bus was on the ramp from southbound Kansas 7 when the tires on the passenger side left the road. The driver attempted to steer back onto the road. The rear of the bus slid down an embankment, and the bus turned onto its passenger side.

Bellis told Fox 4 News that following this accident, Pembroke Hill School sought out people who have used and experienced three-point belts on school buses. Starting with the 2014-15 school year, the buses used at the school will be equipped with the belts, and a monitor will be on board to make sure that the students are strapped in.

To read the full story from Fox 4 News, click here.

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