by Robert Nolte
NIBBE — It’s been slow going, but Randy Fark isn’t giving up on his quest to see new school buses in Montana outfitted with seat belts.
Fark was spurred into action two years ago when his 7-year-old daughter, Sarah, was thrown through the window of a Huntley Project school bus that collided with a pickup truck April 21, 2008, killing the youngster.
Since then, Fark and his wife, Carol, have been working to see new 3-point seat belts installed on school buses as six other states have done.
“New school buses can be outfitted for $1,500 and that’s not a lot of money to ensure our students’ safety,” said Fark. “I am not asking for a retrofit of school buses. That would be costly. But certainly when a school district is buying a $100,000 school bus, the addition of seat belts for $1,500 is not all that much money.”
Apparently, the Montana House of Representatives thinks so.
At its last session in January 2009, the education committee discussed the matter for all of 10 minutes, according to Fark. He was driving to Helena to address the committee but got a phone call saying the discussion of the bill was over. It died in committee.
Fark has been unable to get local Montana senators or representatives interested in his seat belt campaign, but did get an East Helena House member to write and introduce his bill. Fark will again contact Rep. Jill Cohnhour in June to plan reintroduction of a school bus seat belt law during the next legislative session in January 2011.
“This time, I want to see if the transportation committee will consider the bill,” said Fark. “That way, if it passes, federal funds may be able to be used to pay for new buses with seat belts.”
Currently, Montana law mandates that school bus drivers wear seat belts and all special needs buses in the state must provide seat belts for student passengers.
California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Louisiana and New York require seat belts on their school buses.
“When the committee tossed out my bill, they cited over-inflated cost figures,” said Fark, who operates a mobile small engine repair business on the Project. “They said it would cost anywhere from $15 million to $50 million to retrofit school buses in the state. I called Thomas (a company that makes school buses) and they said it would only cost an additional $1,500 to provide belts for all school bus seats. I am not asking for a retrofit of all school buses. . . just seat belts on new school bus purchases.”
An article in the March 21st edition of the nationally distributed Parade magazine confirmed that $1,500 is the cost of outfitting new school buses with seat belts. The article also noted that 17,000 children are injured every year in school bus accidents in the U.S.
“Without restraint, your child is a missile waiting to launch on a school bus — very unsafe,” said Dr. Alan Ross, president of the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, quoted in the Parade article.
Beyond the money issue, opponents say there is no guarantee that kids riding a school bus would use seat belts. To that comment, Fark said children today are accustomed to using seat belts whenever they get into their family car.
“My kids always tell my wife and I to buckle up,” said Fark. “They are trained to use seat belts. Why would that be different on a school bus?”
Fark also discounts the scenario used by critics that has kids buckled-in when a school bus is hit by a semi-truck and trailer and a cement truck, causing the bus to burst into flames and trapping children.
“That,” said Fark, “is an unlikely event” that, in his view, has never been documented.
Fark said he might press for a ballot initiative on the question of school bus seat belts and let Montanans vote on whether they approve of adding such a safety feature. As she did during the last legislative session, Fark’s wife, Carol, will again “work behind the scenes.”
The Fark family has three other children, Brittany, 11, who was on the school bus that wrecked and killed her sister, Sarah; Jessica, 18, a senior at Huntley Project High School; and Diane, 22.
The Farks filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the school district in September 2008 and six months later received a settlement of $945,684 from the school district’s insurance company.
The driver of the school bus, Roxanne Shult, pleaded guilty to careless driving and failure to yield and, following a plea agreement, was sentenced to a suspended six-month jail sentence, a $600 fine and 180 hours of community service for the careless driving charge and another $100 fine for the failure to yield charge. The judge also ordered Shult to write a letter to the Farks explaining her role in the child’s death.
