For generations, students have boarded yellow school buses and sat in their seats without wearing seat belts.

But that may soon change, according to the nation's top road safety official.

Mark R. Rosekind, administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, spoke last weekend at a transportation conference in Virginia and, for the first time in the agency's history, recommended three-point seat belts on schools buses, referring to them as "icons of safety."

In the past, NHTSA has opposed retrofitting school buses with seat belts, saying it is too costly and that buses without seat belts are safe.

"The position of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is that seat belts save lives," Rosekind said. "That is true whether in a passenger car or in a big yellow bus. And saving lives is what we are about." 

Rosekind acknowledged that his recommendation, which he isn't mandating yet, will be a "challenge." 

"But I want us to concentrate on this simple, basic statement: School buses should have seat belts. Period," he said. "It should be utterly uncontroversial — there is no question that seat belts offer improved safety. Seat belts will save the lives of children who we might otherwise lose in crashes. Seat belts provide the safety those kids deserve. And yet for years, decades even, the conversation about school bus safety has gone right past what ought to happen, and straight to all the reasons it can't happen."

Current federal law requires that small school buses weighing less than 10,000 pounds must be equipped with lap and/or shoulder belts, but the majority of the buses on the road weigh more and are exempt.

If Rosekind's proposal becomes a mandate, thousands of buses would have to be retrofitted with seat belts.

Many school bus industry groups have responded to his remarks, saying that such decisions should be left to cities and states, not federal regulators.

Local bus companies, including First Student and Student Transportation Inc., referred questions to their national headquarters, and officials there could not be reached for comment.

Ronna Weber, executive director of the National Student Transportation Association, an organization representing private bus contractors, manufacturers and suppliers, also could not be reached for comment.

Weber has stated in the past that her organization's position is that the decision to install seat belts on schools buses should be a local one.

"Three-point seat belts would only be added to a school bus at a cost, and that additional cost would have to come from somewhere within a local budget. We are concerned that if mandated and unfunded, that additional cost could force some districts to make choices that may not be in the best interests of safety," Weber wrote last month in an article featured in SchoolBus Fleet magazine.

She said the NHTSA should perhaps focus its resources and attention on the fatality rate in the danger zone area outside the bus or near loading zones and look at other student safety options instead of focusing on one issue.

Nationwide, yellow school buses transport 26 million students every school day, providing more than 9 billion student rides every year. The average student occupant fatality rate is four deaths per year during school travel hours, with an injury rate of less than 0.01 percent annually, she said.

National organizations like the National Safety Council are applauding Rosekind's recommendation.

In a statement, the National Safety Council acknowledged that school buses are by far the safest way to transport children to and from school but also said it is important to re-examine current practices.

"But we must always ask, 'What more can we do?,'" the statement said. "Three-point seat belts are required for school bus drivers and are now required in all of our personal vehicles. As states have changed their laws, it is important for all organizations, including the federal government, to update safety standards." 

Alan Ross, president of the National Coalition of School Bus Safety, which has been advocating for seat belts on school buses for decades, said he was thrilled that the government is changing its position.

"Yellow school buses are a dinosaur that really hasn't changed much in 50 years," said Ross. "They haven't caught up with the safety advances that we take for granted in our passenger vehicles. Children are used to seat belts and know how to use them." 

Rosekind announced a series of steps to move forward his recommendation.

He said the NHTSA will launch a series of research projects to improve school bus safety data, particularly data on the safety benefits of seat belts.

He said the agency in coordination with other entities would look at ways to overcome the financial barriers to making seat belts universally available.

Rosekind also said he would reach out this week to governors in six states that already require seat belts on school buses.

He said he would ask them for recommendations on how to make this a "nationwide movement."

The six states that have passed a variation of a law requiring seat belts in school buses are California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

In a statement, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Rosekind's recommendation will save lives.

"Expect to hear all the specious, tired arguments about the expense of retrofitting buses and the need to conduct cost-benefit analyses to determine whether this move is worth it," Blumenthal said. "The irrefutable fact is that every child's life saved by a seat belt is well worth the cost. Public policy should never put profits and bottom lines above children's lives."

i.larraneta@theday.com

Twitter: @larraneta