By Associated Press
Northport, AL – Alabama has begun a study to determine if seat belts will make it safer for kids to ride on school buses.
The three-year study being conducted by the University of Alabama began Monday with students in 10 school systems around the state boarding buses equipped with seat belts. Gov. Bob Riley joined kindergarten and first-grade students boarding a school bus at Northport Elementary School and buckling up to test out the new safety equipment.
He said Alabama's study would be used in a national effort to provide the safest trips to school possible.
The pilot study was launched following the 2006 deaths of four Lee High School students in Huntsville when a school bus went over a railing on an overpass and crashed.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)