Parent Reacts to School Bus Crash, Lack of Seatbelts
NORTH JACKSON, Tenn. — The school bus crash that sent five Jackson-Madison county students and their school bus driver to the hospital has at least one parent asking a serious question. Why don’t school buses have seat belts? A spokesperson with Jackson-Madison County Schools said their school buses are not equipped with seat belts because it is not required by the state. A concerned parent said she is now even more concerned about her children’s safety after Friday morning’s crash. “I am worried, and I don’t know really what to do,” Haya Zeidan, a Jackson-Madison County Schools parent, said. Haya Zeidan said her 2 daughters ride the bus to school every day and not buckling up on their ride does not make sense. “How do they give us tickets as parents who don’t put seat belts on for their children but on the other side they don’t take care or at least put seatbelts on the bus,” Zeidan said. Captain Sammy Britt said he has see several school bus crashes in his time at the Jackson Police Department. “Once a vehicle is in a collision the occupants will be thrown around if they’re not strapped,” Capt. Britt said. At least 20 students on a bus to Rose Hill Middle School and Liberty Tech were on board Friday morning’s crash. Parents said they are glad no one was seriously hurt. “Adults have seat belts in cars but how come they don’t have them on buses? Children are younger than adults, they should have seat belts on buses too!,” 7-year-old Boran Zeidan, a student at Thelma Barker Elementary, said. Zeidan said after hearing about the accident, she may drive her daughters to school from now on.
