Interpretation ID: 1985-02.22

TYPE: INTERPRETATION-NHTSA

DATE: 05/01/85 EST

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Jeffrey R. Miller; NHTSA

TO: Dick Kruse -- Secondary Schools Principals Association

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT:

Mr. Dick Kruse Secondary Schools Principals Association 1904 Association Drive Reston, Virginia 22091

This responds to your May 1, 1985 telephone call to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regarding the Federal motor vehicle safety standards applying to buses used for school extracurricular activities. You were especially interested in the agency's regulatory definition of "school bus" which was adopted pursuant to enactment of the Motor Vehicle and Schoolbus Safety Amendments of 1974 (Public Law 93-492; hereinafter "the Schoolbus Safety Amendments").

In the Schoolbus Safety Amendments, Congress defined "school bus" as:

a passenger motor vehicle which is designed to carry more than 10 passengers in addition to the driver, and which the Secretary determines is likely to be significantly used for the purpose of transporting primary, preprimary, or secondary school students to or from such schools or events related to such schools.

The legislative history of the Schoolbus Safety Amendments shows that Congress chose to specify a broad definition of a school bus, so as to require vehicles used solely for extracurricular activities to meet the same safety standards as buses used to transport the children to and from school. Congress intended NHTSA to set forth a regulatory definition of a school bus that encompassed any bus likely to be significantly used for student transportation.

The agency's definition of a school bus is in accordance with the Congressional definition of that term. The agency definition is found in the definitions section of our motor vehicle safety standards (Volume 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 571.3). A school bus is defined as:

a bus that is sold, or introduced in interstate commerce, for purposes that include carrying students to and from school or related events, but does not include a bus designed and sold for operation as a common carrier in urban transportation.

Our regulations further define "bus" as "a motor vehicle with motive power, except a trailer, designed for carrying more than 10 persons."

The enclosed materials include a Federal Register notice (40 FR 60035; December 31, 1975) amending the agency's definition of school bus to conform to the mandate of the Schoolbus Safety Amendments, and materials on the legislative history of Title II of the Amendments, Schoolbus Safety. Pursuant to your request, I have also enclosed a copy of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, as amended, and information describing our motor vehicle safety standards and how you csn obtain copies of those standards.

You expressed an interest in Secretary Dole's response to Representative Cheney's recent letter regarding NHTSA's regulations for activity buses used by school districts. A copy of that letter is enclosed.

Please let me know if we can be of further assistance.

Sincerely, Jeffrey R. Miller Chief Counsel Enclosures

THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20590 MAY 14, 1985 The Honorable Dick Cheney House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Dick:

Thank you for your letter requesting clarification of the Department's regulations pertaining to the use by school districts of commercial-type buses as activity buses. appreciate this opportunity to respond to your concerns.

You requested clarification of whether the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act prohibits the sale of a used commercial-type bus to a school district for use on activity trips. The Act only applies to the manufacture and sale of new motor vehicles. Thus, persons selling a used bus to a Wyoming school district are not subject to the Act's requirement to sell certified school buses, and a used commercial-type bus, regardless of its model year, may be sold as an activity bus.

You also had several questions about Highway Safety Program Standard No. 17, Pupil Transportation Safety. You are correct that states have discretion to adopt all or part of Standard No. 17, and that the standard has no direct effect on the purchase of used buses by local school districts. Congress has given the Department the discretion under the Highway Safety Act not to insist that a State comply with every requirement of the highway safety standards. While the Department has stressed the importance of a strong pupil transportation program, consistant with Standard No. 17, the Department has not insisted that the States comply with every feature of the standard.

You asked whether Wyoming school districts can obtain an administrative waiver from the requirements of Standard No. 17 if Wyoming has adopted the standard as its own policy. Since a state has the discretion to adopt and amend Standard No. 17 as it determines to be necessary for its highway safety program, the effect of Standard No. 17 on Wyoming school districts is a matter for the state to decide. An administrative waiver from NHTSA is therefore not necessary.

I trust this letter has clarified our regulations for school buses.

With best wishes. Sincerely, Elizabeth Hanford Dole