[Return to Home Page ] [Title Page ] [Preface to 1996 Edition ] [About the Author ] [Table of Contents ] [Main Body ] [Appendix A. Compartmentalization ] [Appendix B. TRB Special Report 222, May 1989 ] [Appendix C. Endorsements ] [Appendix D. Testimonials ] [Appendix E. Studies and Recommendations ] [Appendix F. Legalities ] [Appendix G. Guidelines to Seatbelt Implementation] [INDEX ] [Responses To This Site ] [Related Sites ]
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©Stephen A. Langford, Oro Valley, Arizona, 7 September 1996
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FOREWORD
I (Langford) am new to this issue, as I suspect many concerned people are. The best resource I have yet found (since becoming involved with the school-bus seatbelt issue, on 8 January 1990) is the National Coalition for Seatbelts on School Buses (NCSSB) "Resource Manual" (3rd edition, September 1986). That manual is a compendium which NCSSB has collated from many valuable sources.
However, most people probably do not have the time thoroughly to "digest" that manual's contents. This Primer began as an exercise to provide myself with a means to quicker learning and with a tool for easy freshening of memory. I also hope that it will provide a useful aid to others who are trying to learn the subject quickly or who are preparing presentations of certain aspects of the school-bus seatbelt issue.
Coalition for Child Safety (CCS) is an informal group, formed on 31 January 1990, in Oro Valley (in the NW "Greater Tucson," Arizona, area). Although most current members of CCS are parents of the Amphitheater Unified School District No. 10 ("Amphi"), the group is open to all who are interested in promoting improvements in school-bus safety. CCS's envisioned purview includes lobbying for legislation which mandates seatbelts on school buses and which addresses seatbelt-related safety issues. We encourage enactment of such legislation by all U.S. state legislatures as well as by the U.S. Congress.
This Primer is also aimed at helping CCS members to prepare their presentations of concerns about the current lack of seatbelts on Amphi- District school buses, to the Amphi Board, at its 13 February 1990 Board Meeting. A copy of this Primer is to be given to the Amphi-Board on 13 February 1990. It is intended to convince Amphi Board members to install seatbelts on their school buses now.
While scanning the referenced 238-page NCSSB manual, and reading it as closely as time has permitted, I added my own index tabs to its pages. Those added index tabs now provide a supplement to the manual's good (but not complete) Index.
The following excerpts and paraphrased passages are taken mostly from those pages of the NCSSB manual which were flagged by those added index tabs. The excerpts are rearranged and collated into briefer presentations, as possible. Most of the excerpts are grouped into appendixes, so that the main body of this Primer is more of a brief summary than it is a lengthy treatise. Readers seeking extensive documentation of various aspects concerning particular topics are referred to the appropriate appendixes.
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©Stephen A. Langford, Oro Valley, Arizona, 7 September 1996
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Page references (e.g., "p. 101:"), throughout this Primer, refer to pages in the NCSSB manual, unless other sources are indicated. My own thoughts are sometimes inserted in brackets [ ].
I apologize in advance for any quoting-, paraphrasing-, or other errors that I may have committed. I shall appreciate being notified of any and all such errors.
I also apologize that time has not permitted a more organized arrangement of this Primer. I shall welcome suggestions aimed at improving the organization of future versions.
I shall also appreciate suggestions of other materials which would be valuable to include in future versions of this Primer.
I hope that the intensive study I have given the school-bus seatbelt issue, over the past five weeks, has resulted in a presentation as convincing to the reader as the exercise has been to me, of the preponderant validity to arguments in favor of seatbelts in school buses. The second word of this Primer's title reflects my own continuingly strong bias on this controversial issue.
[Return to Home Page ] [Title Page ] [Preface to 1996 Edition ] [About the Author ] [Table of Contents ] [Main Body ] [Appendix A. Compartmentalization ] [Appendix B. TRB Special Report 222, May 1989 ] [Appendix C. Endorsements ] [Appendix D. Testimonials ] [Appendix E. Studies and Recommendations ] [Appendix F. Legalities ] [Appendix G. Guidelines to Seatbelt Implementation] [INDEX ] [Responses To This Site ] [Related Sites ]
Although this site is under development, the 105,591-Byte document [SEATBELT.ZIP] upon which it will be based can be downloaded, permitting you to format it to your own liking.
©Stephen A. Langford, Oro Valley, Arizona, 29 September 1996. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This document may be freely transmitted in its entirety, so long as no monies are earned during the transaction/s. Permission is required for any and all other pertinent circumstances. ---------------------------------- page break ----------------------------- (Metering for this page begun 3 September 1996.)
