Time for school bus seat belts?

A seat belt might not have made any difference yesterday for Daniel Wood. According to our story, the 16-year-old was sitting near a window in the left corner of a Pendleton County bus that was hit by a dump truck. Officials said he likely was killed instantly, and the impact tossed him onto another nearby student.

But tragedies such as this can't help but renew the debate on whether seat belts should be required on school buses. The statistical evidence in favor of seat belts is overwhelming. The idea seems to make intuitive sense, but I haven't been a fan of the idea.

One reason is Dean Wise. Dean was a reporter who covered the courts for us at the York, Pa., Daily Record, where I used to work. He also was a part-time school bus driver. I asked him about seat belts once. He laughed and then got serious. Dean's points: A bus driver has enough to do without worrying about being the "belt cop." What about the liability a district could face if the driver fails to enforce the requirement that every kid buckle up? How could the driver always know? And imagine, he added, a bunch of middle-school students whacking each other on the head with the belts.

There will have to be good answers to those questions, as well as the funding for cash-strapped districts, before any politicians rush to make it a requirement.

Meanwhile, every parental heart breaks a bit for the family and friends of Daniel Wood and wants something positive to emerge.

If nothing else, even a casual reading of the coverage suggests that enforcement needs to step up on this narrow, curvy road. The picture of the overturned dump truck speaks volumes.