We blogged recently about the indictment of Christina Mathis, the school bus driver accused of overturning a bus in Nashville. Mathis was charged with 35 counts of aggravated assault and one count of felony reckless endangerment due to the Nov. 18 rollover accident, which injured 35 of the 48 students onboard, four of them critically.
Investigators say that Mathis was speeding when she struck a guardrail on the way to a Beta Club convention at the Opryland Hotel.
Mathis recently entered her plea: not guilty on all counts.
WOULD STUDENTS BE SAFER FROM ROLLOVERS IF BUSES HAD SEATBELTS?
School bus seat belt regulations have become a popular subject for debate in Tennessee after the deadly Chattanooga bus crash, which killed six students last year. In April, legislation passed the Tennessee Transportation Committee that would require all new school buses to come equipped with safety restraints.
But do seat belts make school buses safer? In some accidents, children could fare worse due to seat belts. If a bus were to catch fire, for example, there would be an increased risk of injury and fatality if the children and bus driver were unable to remove the restraints. The same risk is present if a bus were to become submerged in water or flooding. And in rollover accidents, children can suffer injuries from the belts that they may not have otherwise, although the belts could also save the children from impact injuries caused by the rollover.
Isaiah 41:13, “For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you.”