IMMI Study Finds High Rate of Usage of Lap-Shoulder Belts on School Bus; SafeGuard School Bus Seat Welcomed By School In Pilot Program 8/26/2002
From: Julie King of IMMI, 317-867-8149; E-mail: jking@imminet.com WESTFIELD, Ind., Aug. 26 -- IMMI, manufacturer of the SafeGuard School Bus Seat with lap-shoulder belts, today released the results from a pilot program that for the first time used a school bus seat with lap-shoulder seat belts for a regular daily school bus route and field trips. The study found nearly 100 percent of students aged six to 10 used the lap-shoulder belts every time they were riding the bus, while usage among 11- to- 15 year olds was 75 percent, and usage among students 15 and older was 50 percent. The pilot program, which ran from February 15 to May 31, 2002, studied seat belt usage, student behavior and product durability among students at Indianapolis' Heritage Christian School. IMMI provided the school with a type C conventional school bus for use on daily morning and afternoon routes and field trips. Approximately 20 percent of the students and all the bus drivers at Heritage participated in the research study and logged more than 3,000 miles on the bus. Results of the pilot program will be reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to be included in their study on school bus safety. "The usage rates from the pilot program are very encouraging and clearly shows a willingness among students to use lap-shoulder belts on the school bus," said James Johnson, SafeGuard Product Manager, IMMI. "Interestingly, the drivers commented that SafeGuard impacted the overall safety of the bus by reducing the noise level and improving the behavior of the students, enabling them to focus on driving without becoming distracted." The current school bus seat technology, called compartmentalization, created prior to 1977, protects children in a frontal crash with a padded high-back seat that absorbs energy when the child is properly positioned in the seat. Compartmentalization offers even perfectly positioned children little protection in a side impact or rollover crashes. Meanwhile, NHTSA reports that, in the last 10 years, 58 percent of school bus occupant fatalities have occurred in side impact and rollover crashes and only 39 percent of the school bus crashes are frontal impacts. IMMI's SafeGuard Seat is the only seat designed to offer the benefits of both compartmentalization and lap-shoulder belt technology to protect children in frontal, rollover, side impact and rear crashes. School buses in the United States are not equipped with lap-shoulder seat belts, but several states have lap belt laws, including New York, New Jersey, Louisiana and Florida. California is the first state to enact law requiring lap-shoulder belts, effective in 2004 for school buses up to 16 passengers and 2005 for larger buses. The SafeGuard School Bus Seat is currently available on Girardin School Buses; that manufacturer will deliver the first school buses with lap-shoulder seat belts this fall. Several other school bus manufacturers are currently compliance testing the SafeGuard Seat for availability this fall. "The bus is definitely safer because the students are not moving around", said Janice Gatliff, Transportation Assistant Heritage Christian School. "The seat belts have conditioned the students to stay in their seats, and its safer for me as the driver because I'm concentrating on driving rather then disciplining a bus full of kids." "Buckling up is a habit, and, with states mandating use of safety belts in passenger cars, more children than ever are buckling up; the fact that they usually don't have the opportunity to wear safety belts on school buses is a contradiction that shouldn't exist," said Johnson. The pilot program was so successful with Heritage Christian that it will continue through December of 2002 and a similar pilot program recently started in California. IMMI developed the SafeGuard School Bus Seat through extensive, state-of-the-art testing at the company's Center for Advanced Product Evaluation (CAPE). IMMI has performed seven full frontal barrier tests on school buses and one bus-to-bus crash test-twice as many as all other entities combined have conducted in 25 years. IMMI has a one-of-a-kind rollover test machine that provides a rare look inside a school bus during a rollover impact. Rollover test footage shows what can happen to children unbelted and belted in a school bus rollover, which helped significantly in developing the SafeGuard seat. To learn more about SafeGuard School Bus Seat and school bus crash testing visit http://www.safeguardseat.com. For additional photos of SafeGuard and school bus testing go to http://www.imminet.com. ------ About IMMI IMMI develops, tests and manufactures occupant restraints for commercial vehicles, child and infant seats, and off-road machinery. IMMI is one of the world's first seat belt manufacturers and has over 40 years of experience in the restraint safety systems field. IMMI's world-class testing facility, the Center for Advanced Product Evaluation (CAPE), located at company headquarters in Westfield, Indiana, provides static, dynamic, rollover and full-size barrier crash tests as well as a wide range of durability and environmental tests. The company offers occupant safety restraint systems to domestic and international companies and tests to U.S., European and Australian standards as well as SAE recommended practices. IMMI is a privately held company and is QS 9000 and ISO 9001 certified. For more information, visit IMMI at http://www.imminet.com. --- EDITORS: High-resolution, downloadable photos will soon be available for free editorial use at: http://www.wirepix.com/newsphotos/USN/ |