> Howard, yes, the compartment is the area between the two seets. Here's a website to look at with some crash test videos of school buses.

Yes, I saw that, and it probably saved some lives in the Alabama crash. It keeps passeners from going forward. But in a roll over crash, it is not very effective. I wonder if compartments required any modification. The seats don't look much different from the ones on buses I rode in the 50's. Maybe the seat backs are higher.

They still haven't said how that bus driver got out of the bus. He (or maybe she) was up on the overpass. From the looks of the bus, anyone in the driver's seat would have been killed.
Howard