School bus
Rep. Bill Rehm wants seat belts installed on school buses. | Maximilian Simson/Unsplash

School bus crash video prompts response from Rehm: 'Had the kids had seat belts, they wouldn't have been flying through the vehicle'

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New Mexico state Rep. Bill Rehm (R-Bernalillo) is renewing calls for seat belts on children's school buses after a recent accident.

KOB 4 released a video of an accident in which a driver rammed into a school bus, causing the bus to topple over and injure some of the children inside. The video footage from the bus's onboard camera showed that some of the children were sent flying into the air after the crash.

Rehm co-sponsored a bill that would have increased safety requirements for school buses, including establishing a seat belt requirement, in 2019.

"It's looking at the safety features we have on automobiles and applying those to school buses," Rehm said, according to KOB 4. "Had the kids had seat belts, they wouldn't have been flying through the vehicle."

The bill was advanced by the House but not by the Senate, so it was not passed, KOB 4 reported. Rehm believes it is time to reintroduce the bill due to the serious accident, which could have resulted in students' deaths.

"I think that it's time for us to advance,” Rehm said. “There's many other states that have this requirement." 

Eight states have seatbelt requirements, including Arkansas, California, Nevada, and Texas, according to KOB 4.

Rehm emailed members of the Senate Education Committee to urge them to reconsider the proposed bill in the next legislative session.

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