Fatal crash puts spotlight on seat belt exemptions

The King County Medical Examiners Office has released the name of the man killed in Thursday’s shuttle bus crash in Sea-Tac. He is 45-year-old Bryan Panzanaro from Peekskill, New York. He was ejected from the shuttle.

Eight other people were hurt.

>> 1 dead, several injured after bus accident in SeaTac

The accidents put the spotlight on Washington's seat belt laws. 
 
Officers say the bus had seatbelts, though it's not required to.

“We know they are a benefit, we know that they save lives, said Kathy Kruger, leader of the Washington State Safety Restraint Coalition.

But in Washington State, school buses are not required to have seatbelts, neither are transit buses, shuttle buses, limousines, taxis, or party buses.

Kruger says the seat belt law focuses rightly on passenger cars.

“When you are stacking up things that you want to require people to do it makes sense to look at those things that cause the greatest number of serious injuries and deaths and frankly school buses are very safe to ride in,” she said.

At Sea-Tac airport this afternoon, we saw shuttle passengers not using the seatbelts provided.

Soini Riles says she often rides the Marriott hotel shuttle. It was a Marriott shuttle that was involved in the fatal accident.

“We'll they have seatbelts but a bus like that you're not required to wear them. Nobody ever wears them,” she said.

Asked if she will use them after Thursday’s accident, she replied, “Probably not. It's like lightning striking. It's not something that happens very often.”

Shuttle Passenger Brett O’Connor shared similar feelings, “Honestly probably not (use shuttle seatbelts). Just because it's such a short distance we don't think about it.”

Investigators haven’t said whether the driver of the car that caused the accident will be cited or charged.

Cox Media Group