AUSTIN (KXAN) — In 2017, Texas passed Senate Bill 693, which would require three-point seatbelts for each passenger on buses that transport schoolchildren, but not all buses have them.
It is the public policy of this state to ensure the safety of all students by taking every measure possible to protect the lives and well-being of students during transportation on a bus to and from school and extracurricular activities, including the measure enacted in Section 547.701(e), Transportation Code, as amended by this Act.
Senate Bill 693
According to the districts’ websites, all buses in use by Austin ISD, Leander ISD and Pflugerville ISD were equipped with seat belts.
Round Rock ISD said it had 251 buses, of which, only 64 do not have seat belts. According to RRISD, it was part of district policy and the Student Code of Conduct that all students wear seatbelts when riding in a bus or vehicle equipped with them.
Hays CISD said it was speeding up its process to replace its buses without seatbelts following a fatal crash involving one.
“We are supposed to get our next round of buses in 3-4 weeks that all are equipped with seat belts that will make it where our entire fleet of route buses all have seatbelts,” Hays CISD Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright said. “Then we’re going to accelerate with our Facilities and Bond Oversight Committee with the blessing of our School Board, to go out to replace our spare buses with buses that all have seat belts.”
On March 22, a bus carrying Tom Green Elementary pre-K students was hit when a concrete truck veered into the bus’ lane, causing it to roll over. There were two deaths as a result of the crash—5-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya who was on the bus and 33-year-old Ryan Wallace who was traveling in a vehicle behind the bus.