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Information on school bus safety resolutions (CCL‘I‘ll bus safety. the Because ol concerning school l-ederatetl Women's lnstItutes of Ontar to uas united by Transport Canada to send it representatiw to the lniormatton Forum on School Bus Salary In Toronto last summer. About hSOIIUU chIldren tn OntarIo are transported in school buses. in 1985336. there “ere 253 qunes of \thch sis to ctght retjutred hospitaliâ€" zatIoIi. There were two l‘atalittes. Hone-tar, It Is Interesting to note that a child is seven times more likely to be Injured In a car than In a school bus. There are three main factors causing bus acmdcnts: |. Bus driters are the major cause. Drivers should be ll years-old. have no crInIInal record, and have their demcrIt marks recorded. Drivers need constant training and a rigorous licensing procedure should be adopted. Other drners contribute to acctdents. Harsher penalties should be Imposed If the drIvers do not obey the law. Laws should be better adver- tlscd. especially laws involving \ehicles passtng school buses . The school bus itsell’should be made sitter u Ith regular inspecttons. ‘t'ellou l'lttshtng lIghts and stop arms must be In working order. Improved seats should cut down on acctcients, Buses are replaced every seven years. It has been lound that the exterior of the bus, rather than the Interior is more Important In cutting down accidents. 'lhe loading zone is a very critical area. Most fatalities occur when a heater vehtele hits a school bus and that for rollovers, the occupants should have seat belts. In order to make the school bus safer. Canada adopted the USA. standard for buses in |978. but not the mandatory use of seat belts. ThIs year. Transport Canada initiated a test program using various seats and seat belts. The following recommenda- tions were made based on the results of the testing in this project. 1. The rear facing seat system should be the subject of further investi- gation and testing, The seat back 5.; I.“ should be made stiffer to decrease deflection due to occupant loading. Consideration should be given to a demonstration project with a bus with rear facing seats to investigate possible field operational problems and the acceptance of such seats by students. In addition, consideration should be given to modifying bus safety standard CMVSS 222, to allow rearward facing seats, since only forward facing ones are permitted at this time. The rctractor should be protected to prevent destruction under-impact conditions. 1 Three~point seat belt systems have potential to improve occupant protection, but further design work would be necessary by the bus manufacturers to reduce chest load; [J I, strttttttt tits 7; 1‘ llllllllllllllllllll!!llll lull]: ing and to determine if it would be necessary to strengthen the floor construction. . The multi-point restraint system should not be considered further since problems were encountsrcd with submarining. The system was also judged to be cumbersome and difficult to put on and adjust properly. As a result of this investigation. a demonstration project is in pro-‘tess from one year starting in September 1988. Four school buses in diftrent parts of Canada have been equupcd with rearward facing seats and .cat belts. Students and parents have men educated to accept this prom run: Results of this experiment will be available in the fall of 1988. W. are eagerly awaiting the results. Joan Law is the Federated Women 's In- stitute of Ontario Board Director lrrIrn Subdivision 12. She lives in M vfl'at, Wellington County and is a member of the Home & Country Editorial Committee. Nineteen resolutions slatted“ g A total of 19 resolutions were sustained by the board of the Federated Women's Institutes ofOntario at its annual meeting in November. Topics covered by the resolutions were: recycling newspaper, glass and tin the needs of the hard of hearing prohibition of war toys increased number of female students under the CIDA program labelling of irradiated food controls on human and animal research simplification of income tax forms Inclusion of houseworkers in the Canada Pension Plan three<point type seatbelts mandatory by 1989 10. support for rural mail delivery ll. investigation of the propmed damn-ting WHP‘E" PPN?‘ >5 of James Bay 12. screening of immigrants for A IDS £3. OHlP coverage for lightweiglrk casts 14. the development of Project Lift ~ mots for rural communities 15. implementation of the 9H telcnhont number for the whole province 16. meeting the needs of all dtahled adults ht Ontario 17. influential nature of some ‘LOlEfll children's games ‘ 18. legitimacy of retail sales tax on ledEI'al services 19. recycling of outdated teIeIJlm“e directories 7 For more information on any film“ resolutions contact an M0 Board DIN-got or Charlotte Johnson, FWIO Resolutions Convenertaddn-sses on page two), 2 0 H St C February, March 1988