My heart aches for the family of 9-year-old Lilibeth Gomez, who died in the collision of an Arlington school bus with a trash truck [front page, April 19]. My mind goes back to a similar scene in Racine, Wis., in March 1971, when my brother, Philip, 10, died after being thrown from his school bus when it collided with an armored truck. The school bus was knocked halfway off its chassis by the impact; the money truck had a dent in its fender.
My parents and siblings and I, represented in Congress at that time by freshman Rep. Les Aspin, researched the defects in school buses and, with the help of many others, got legislation passed that would make the buses safer.
The Motor Vehicle and School Bus Safety Amendments of 1974 required safety standards for school buses in eight areas: emergency exits; interior protection; floor strength; seating systems; crashworthiness; vehicle operating systems; windows and windshields; and fuel systems. Those changes took effect in 1977 and have made school buses safer. Still, those 1974 changes did not require seatbelts, which would in all probability have saved my brother's life and the lives of many children in the 34 years since. A variety of reasons have been given for not requiring seatbelts, most of which, I believe, boil down to cost.
In 1971 the picture of the mangled school bus and the armored truck with a crinkled fender prompted questions about our priorities -- how much we were willing to spend to protect our children compared with our money. Similar questions about our priorities might be asked today.
KATHRYN TOBIAS
Cheverly
