Last year, Democratic Representative Charlie Crist introduced the "Best to Use Safety (BUS) Belts Act," which made it mandatory that all new school buses have seat belts.
When introducing the proposal, he explained that "Families across Florida teach their children to buckle up. But for millions of kids across the country their school bus lacks this basic safety feature. All students deserve access to a safe education – this measure simply extends that principle to children’s transportation to and from school."
In March, Crist commented on the National Transportation Safety Board supporting the initiative, saying that "Our responsibility to keep students safe goes beyond the classroom – we must also provide for safe transportation to and from school. I am thankful that the National Transportation Safety Board is joining our call to require seat belts for our children on school buses. We made progress in Florida. Now we need to enhance protections nationwide."
In turn, this week saw Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth and Democratic Representative Steve Cohen introducing legislation that would strengthen the effort to make school buses more safe, which includes provisions from Crist's Act and his call for buses to be "equipped with three-point belts and providing grants to upgrade existing buses with safety belts.”
