Most are unaware that the school bus compartmentalization design implemented in the 1970's was not the engineers’ design but an altered design implemented by school principals and politicians. The original design included seat belts. The excuses asserted for no seat belts in school buses is as old as the arguments asserted against seat belts in cars in the 1950's. The nation's largest auto maker at that time, General Motors, declined to offer belts even as optional equipment. General Motors' "safety engineer," concluded that "seat belts are not essential for safe driving." Finally, with its 1956 model cars, Ford Motor Co. took the lead in offering optional equipment safety belts, as part of an emphasis on vehicle safety in its marketing of that year's new automobiles. Initial public demand for the belts was so high that it exceeded Ford's production plans (NOVA). International Corporation (IC) was the first school bus manufacture to offer seat belts as standard equipment on school buses. 28% of IC's production includes seat belts installed. Over 700 school districts have somehow managed with belts installed on their school buses. Some school districts in states using belts but not mandated include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Vermont and Virginia. I've driven the big school buses with belts not installed and also some with belts installed. Buses with belts installed and use required are safer for everybody in and outside the bus, and provide safer environments on the bus over that of beltless buses, in my opinion. For more about this issue see this link: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=09000064803...