A recent poll suggests that a majority of British Columbians support a modification to school buses in the province that would require them to have seatbelts.

In the online survey by Vancouver-based Research Co of a representative provincial sample, almost nine-in-ten British Columbians (88%) support making seatbelts mandatory for school buses.

“There are very few British Columbians who voice opposition to the notion of installing seatbelts in the province’s school buses,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “The level of support for the proposal is high across all regions.”

Earlier this year, federal transport minister Marc Garneau announced the creation of a federal task force to identify and assess potential measures to improve school bus safety including seatbelts.”

An online petition on change.org which was created by a school bus driver, has also garnered more than 95,000 signatures in support of making seatbelts in school buses mandatory across Canada.

“I started this petition because I’m a school bus driver and I’m the only one to buckle up. Does that make sense? It’s a dollars over safety issue,” says the petition.

This aligns with the results of the survey, in which more than half of residents “strongly support” the measure, while a third express “moderate support.”

Results from the poll are based on an online study conducted from April 4 to April 7, 2019, among 800 adults in British Columbia. The data carries a margin of error of 3.5 per cent.

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