Md. senator pushing for bill that would require seat belts on school buses

It's a proven fact that a seat belt can help save your life. You can find them in pretty much any car that you get into, but what about school buses?

In the state of Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, they are not required. But one Maryland state senator is trying to change that for Maryland.

Senator James Brochin of Baltimore County says having seat belts on school buses is a matter of common sense.

This is not the first time that Senator Brochin has tried to make this a law; last summer it was brought to the table but because of the huge price tag, didn't make it far. But that didn't stop Brochin from trying again.

He tells 47 ABC, this past summer he put numbers together and found that if you wait until the end of the buses life cycle, which is about 12 years, when you order the new bus you can then mandate that the new bus must have seat belts. This cuts the price from 70 to 22 million dollars over a decade long period.

He's hoping with the cut in costs that it will get passed.

"It's going to save lives, we know it is, and it just seems like a common sense approach to help kids. You want to get them to school in one piece," Brochin told 47 ABC. "I just think it's a balancing act and we're living on borrowed time saying that there's not going to be a horrific accident where kids lives aren't going to be impacted on a school bus. It happens unfortunately and studies have shown, just like with seat belts in cars and then we went to airbags and things like that, these kids need to be buckled in."

The bill was heard in committee yesterday and Brochin says they'll vote on it in a couple of weeks.