Seat belts in a converted bus.

[Mike Armour]

I am working on a 1989 GMC Bus with a Superior body. I am convertin it to a RV. Do I need seat belts in the RV??

[Steve]

As a note I don't have any safety belts, my bus never had any. However I'm not recommending not having any.

[capttrips25]

I live in Virginia and we went by the book when we converted our bus. Our insurance on the bus is $126.00 a year. The seat belts we put in can be stored under the seats but we use them when the kids are with us. By law everone on our bus/registered motorhome must be wearing seat belts or we could get a ticket.

Its just best to go to a junkyard and find some real long seatbelts and put them in even if you don't use them. One day it may be an issue if you get pulled over.

[lornaschinske]

You can also buy new after-market ones thru JC Whitney. They really aren't that expensive. With the states cracking down on seatbelt use it may be best to have them. I also found them very usefull to keep my twins in one place when they were small. Otherwise they would have been all over the car (and occasionally did in the carseats as they were escape artists and could slip a 5-point harness)... would hate to think about them loose in a bus. Now they are almost 18 and just automatically buckle up in the car. I will have them on the dinette seats but not the sofa/daybed. But that is my personal preferance. I think that given the age of your vehicle that you probably won't be required to have them. I just don't understand why it's required to buckle-up in a car but not in a schoolbus. I find it hard to believe that seatbelts would add that much to the cost.

Being as you are in SC and knowing how they get flakey at times with the laws (I used to live in the "Golden Corner" of Upstate SC), to be one the safe side I would get the belts.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

I just don't understand why it's required to buckle-up in a car but not in a schoolbus. I find it hard to believe that seatbelts would add that much to the cost.

I imagine it is a liability issure, they don't want the schools getting sued for something happening to a kid who wasn't wearing the seatbelt, they would be no practical way of monitoring it and you know kids in the back aren't going to be wearing them.

[wonderkaty]

I looked into why seat belts are in some school buses and not others a while ago and was informed that buses never really had seatbelts until the 90s when there was a big push to put seatbelts on everything in site on principal. seatbelts, for the most part, are no longer in new buses though BECAUSE studies have found that they actually impede the exiting process, if there were to be an accident (therefore being more of a danger than a help). imagine trying to get 65 kids to calmly remove their belts and exit a vehical after a crash. additionally, seatbelts tend to help a whole lot in small cars where a crash is very jerky etc. but in something bus size, the impact that one would have to have to have seatbelts come in handy would have to be huge (think train, other bus <-- less likely from car). this is why there aren't any seat belts on coach buses either. my suggestion would be to have a seat belt in the drivers seat (to keep you from going through the windshield) and to be more concerned with keeping things (not people) in place should you have some sort of major accident (for instance, bolt down the couches, etc.) also, if your bus is anything like mine, you will be capped at some reasonable speed anyway.

[Skoolie BOBB]

I did some research on buses and belts and decided I would put belts (with harnesses) in. Oh yes, this is for a Blue Bird. Anyway, I welded a piece of square, steel tubing across the back of the seat-bottom portion of the frame and put a piece of channel with a hole drilled into it to accept the mounting bolt. This was between the stock framing and the one I fabricated. I also put in a place for a shoulder harness mount. In some of my reading I found that there is a danger to the neck with a seat belt only set-up. So, I went all the way to a harness. And yes, passengers will be required to be totally belted in when I am moving. Stop and think about what you will say to a kid if he is injured severely in an accident. All the stuff about state laws, traditions or whatever won't make any difference to someone who is permanently injured. Here is a link for those who want to look into it. There are more sites if you care to research it.

http://www.stnonline.com/stn/occupantre ... ns/120.htm

Herb in Utah==1990 Flat nose Blue Bird

[Jarlaxle]

As of 2004, all school buses in the US must have seat belts, automatic transmissions, and A/C, according to a used-bus guy I talked to.

My 84 has a lap belt for the driver, and nothing else. I'm keeping it, & the passenger seats will have belts.

[Xiaofei]

the OP asked if an RV needs seatbelts for passengers.

MY question is:
i understand you need a seatbelt for riding shotgun, but what about other people? do i need to have a front-facing+seatbelts for ALL passengers?
and how about side-facing seats?

[chev49]

Originally Posted by Jarlaxle

As of 2004, all school buses in the US must have seat belts, automatic transmissions, and A/C, according to a used-bus guy I talked to.

My 84 has a lap belt for the driver, and nothing else. I'm keeping it, & the passenger seats will have belts.

well... tell that to First Student and Mid Colombia bus companies in Oregon. The only busses I have driven for both companies that had belts were the small 1 ton for the special needs kids that has the wheel chair lifts... never any ac except for the charters like mci and not always auto...

[Jolly Roger]

I bought 3point belts from jc. Whitney for about 25$ a piece and bolted them through the ribs to the outside with a locknut inside to look at and maintain and bolted the bottoms through the chair rail. Some extended with a piece of 2x2x1/4" angle bolted to the chair rail to meet my needs.
Only one was special? But being able to remove the inside skin it has a piece of angle iron ( custom) bolted to the rib and extended about 3" to where I needed it and another custom little clip bolted to it to connect it to the chair rail.
All seat belts bought should come with grade 5-8 bolts and lock nuts and or lock washers which the ones I bought did but I had to buy longer bolts for my application so I used the same grade bolts that came with my seatbelt kit. Hope this helps in your decision

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by Jarlaxle

As of 2004, all school buses in the US must have seat belts, automatic transmissions, and A/C, according to a used-bus guy I talked to.

If you heard it from a used car (bus) salesman it must be true.....

Just kidding with you.