STANFORD - Trent Keller, transportation director in the Stanford-based Olympia school district, said he sleeps better at night knowing that the first few rows of seats in his district's buses, usually occupied by younger students, have seat belts. | Photo gallery | Video

However, opinion appears to be divided among people who oversee school buses as to whether equipping them with seat belts is necessary.

Some buses have them, some don't. Some officials, like Keller, welcome them; others don't, saying they have disadvantages and money can be better spent elsewhere.

The Pantagraph surveyed school transportation officials Friday, the day after a bus carrying 11 Tri-Point High School students and two adults from Cullom to Pontiac collided with a farm implement being towed on Illinois 116 near Saunemin. Ten students and one adult were treated and released.

The driver, Charles Kestler, 54, of Chatsworth, remained hospitalized Friday at John W. Albrecht-OSF St. James Medical Center, Pontiac, but hospital officials declined to release his condition.

One student, who name was not released, remained hospitalized, Tri-Point Superintendent Jeff Fritchtnitch said.

The bus from Tri-Point didn't have seat belts, but a school official said students avoided severe injury or death because they were in the rear of the bus.

Fritchtnitch said that if children had been at the front of the bus, belted or not, there would likely have been fatalities.

"Of the 11 kids injured, four came to school today," he said.

Dick Turner, owner of Turner Bus Service, Cullom, which provided the bus involved in the collision, confirmed it didn't have seat belts.

Turner isn't a fan of seat belts on school buses.

Requiring them could mean fewer students to a seat, which would mean school districts would have to hire more buses, he said.

He fears seat belts also could be used as weapons by some children and not used at all by others.

A hotly debate issue

Turner isn't alone in his concerns.

Jason Sherman, contract manager for First Student Inc., which contracts bus service for Bloomington District 87, said the issue is hotly debated.

"Who is responsible if they aren't used properly?" he asked.

Money could be better spent protecting children once they get off the bus, he said, adding that could include installing cameras to record license plates of drivers who violate the buses' stop arms.

Sherman said about half of the buses provided for District 87 are either partially or fully equipped with seat belts, and the belts are generally used to make sure smaller students stay in their seats.

"I think we are doing all right the way we are," echoed Bert Popejoy, transportation director for Normal-based Unit 5, saying about a third of the district's buses are either partially or fully equipped with seat belts.

"All of our special-needs buses have belts," Popejoy said.

Keller said all 33 of his district's buses have lap seat belts in the first four rows of seats.

"If a student is in his seat and has his belt on, that really helps in passing a farm implement," Keller said.

Mike Claffey, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation, said the vast majority of states don't require seat belts on school buses.

"There's a low crash rate with school buses and a nationwide consensus that a compartmentalized approach (with high seat backs and padding) is superior," Claffey said.