Earlier this year, Westfield Washington Schools decided it was time for seat belts on school buses. Where they started with them could be a model for other school districts to follow.
Westfield wisely began their foray into seat belts with their travel buses. These buses don’t stick to neighborhood roads but travel on the interstates and highways. Field trips, sporting events, and school activities often require school buses to travel farther, at significantly higher speeds, and often in heavy traffic surrounded by large semi trucks. For Westfield, it just made sense to start with lap-shoulder belts here. Lori Hutson, a local mother, agreed. “I like that idea. The kids are traveling further and further to sporting events as Westfield grows to compete with those larger schools. So I think that’s a huge, huge benefit to have that.”
According to NHTSA, seat belts save lives and reduce injuries up to 50%. New technology has now made lap-shoulder belts, just like the ones in millions of cars, available on school buses. Lori appreciates that her school district is looking out for her kids by equipping their six travel buses with seat belts. “I was pretty excited about it even though my kids are older. They still take the buses to after school sporting events. With my oldest son, he’s on the wrestling team, so a lot of their events are far away and take place on the weekend. They travel I-65 and that gets a little nerve wracking knowing how many accidents take place on that road.”
Seat belt manufacturer (and SafeGuard4Kids parent company) IMMI created a video for Westfield Washington Schools to help teach kids how to properly buckle up on the school bus. Featuring local teachers, locations, and lots and lots of Westfield kids, “Groovy Bus” will help kids correctly buckle up for years to come. “My son and my niece both did it,” Lori said, “and they had a blast doing it. After seeing the video put together they thought it was a pretty catchy tune. Every once in a while I’ll catch him kind of humming it,” she laughed. “But I thought it was really cute. I thought it was fun. I thought it was very instructional on how to do the seat belts.
“IMMI is excited to provide a fun, catchy video featuring many of Westfield’s own to help Westfield Washington Schools train their students on this new, beneficial safety feature on their travel buses,” said Tom Anthony, president and owner of IMMI. “The district’s commitment to better protect children on these buses that often travel on the interstate at higher rates of speed is commendable and forward-thinking, and we’re proud to partner with them in this endeavor.”
The “Groovy Bus” song will also be given to other school districts that have SafeGuard lap-shoulder belts on their buses, so that they can put their own creative and unique production into it. You can check out the “Groovy Bus” video below.
