Select students from nearly a dozen Des Moines schools will soon be riding buses equipped with seat belts to determine whether they can increase safety.

Starting Monday, a school bus with lap and shoulder belts will transport students on a handful of routes as part of a new Iowa Department of Education study. A second bus will be added to Des Moines routes in December.

The study comes after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommended for the first time last November that seat belts be added to school buses.

Between 2004 and 2013, 61 people died while riding a school bus — an average of six people each year, according to national NHTSA data.

Read the full article on the Des Moines Register website.