Interpretation ID: 21568.drn

Mr. James T. Castle
Fleet Manager, Transportation Services
Clemson University
Klugh Avenue, Box 345382
Clemson, SC 29634-5382

Dear Mr. Castle:

This responds to your April 10, 2000, request for an interpretation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) prohibition on dealers selling new 15-person vans for transporting children to or from school or related events. You wish to know whether the prohibition affects children in custodial care facilities such as summer camps. Our answer is provided below.

In a telephone conversation with Dorothy Nakama of my staff, you explained that by "summer camp" you mean that in the summer, Clemson University hosts children in the twelfth grade and below who want to improve their athletic skills. The children live at Clemson dormitories. Because of distances involved, the children may have to be transported between various sites (e.g., dormitory and athletic field) on the Clemson campus.

Some background information may be helpful. NHTSA is authorized to issue and enforce Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSSs) applicable to new motor vehicles. Our statute at 49 U.S.C. 30112 requires any person selling or leasing a new vehicle to sell or lease a vehicle that meets all applicable standards. Accordingly, persons selling or leasing a new "school bus" must sell or lease a vehicle that meets the safety standards applicable to school buses. Our statute defines a "schoolbus" as any vehicle that is designed for carrying a driver and more than 10 passengers and which, NHTSA decides, is likely to be "used significantly" to transport "preprimary, primary, and secondary" students to or from school or related events. 49 U.S.C. 30125. By regulation, the capacity threshold for school buses corresponds to that of buses -- vehicles designed for carrying more than ten (10) persons. For example, a 15-person van that is likely to be used significantly to transport students is a "school bus." Persons selling or leasing new 15-person vans for such use must sell or lease a van that meets our school bus standards.

In the past, when reviewing a dealer's sale of a new vehicle, NHTSA looked at the nature of the institution purchasing the vehicle. In recent interpretations (see the attached July 17, 1998, letter to Mr. Greg Balmer of the YMCA), we noted that it was more appropriate to consider the extent to which the buses are used to carry children to or from school or related events. In the Balmer letter, we stressed that, even if a bus were sold to a facility that provides custodial care (i.e., to a facility that is not a "school"), if that facility were purchasing the new bus to use significantly to transport students to or from a school or events related to a school, a dealer knowing of this purpose would be required to sell a school bus.

Turning to your letter, you ask about vehicles that would be used to transport children in "summer camps." Based on the facts provided about Clemson University's "summer camp," we would not consider Clemson's "summer camp" as a "school" because apparently, no education is to be provided to the children. Since there would be no significant use of the vehicles to transport children to or from school or related events, a dealer knowing of this purpose that wishes to sell you a new bus (e.g., a 15-person van) would not have to sell you only a bus that meets our school bus standards.

Because our laws apply only to the manufacture and sale of new motor vehicles, we do not prohibit institutions such as your "summer camp" from using large vans to transport school children, even when the vehicles do not meet Federal school bus safety standards. However, each State has the authority to set its own standards regarding the use of motor vehicles, including school buses. For this reason, South Carolina law should be consulted to see if there are regulations about how children must be transported.

You asked for clarification of what "significant" means. There is no definitive answer to this question, but I have provided a basic guideline in an interpretation letter dated May 20, 1999 to Mr. Dennis Seavey of Plus Time New Hampshire (copy enclosed). The letter to Mr. Seavey explains that NHTSA considers "transportation provided to or from school on any two days during a week to be regular use and therefore 'significant.'"

In conclusion, we wish to emphasize that school buses are one of the safest forms of transportation in this country, and that we therefore strongly recommend that all buses that are used to transport school children be certified as meeting NHTSA's school bus safety standards. In addition, using 15-person vans that do not meet NHTSA's school bus standards to transport students could result in liability in the event of a crash.

I am enclosing NHTSA's publication: "School Bus Safety: Safe Passage for America's Children." This brochure explains the safety enhancements of a school bus that makes school buses safer than "conventional vans." There are small school buses available that seat 15 children. While school buses are more expensive than large vans, we believe that the cost difference is not so large that it should prevent facilities from acquiring school buses. The cost range for 15-person school buses is approximately $30-32,000, compared to $25-28,000 for 15-person vans. The longer service life for school buses will offset a part of this difference.

Our belief that vehicles providing the safety of school buses should be used whenever transporting children in buses is shared by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). At a June 8, 1999, public meeting, the NTSB issued the attached abstract of a special investigative report on nonconforming buses. The NTSB issued the report after investigating four crashes in 1998 and 1999 in which 9 people were killed and 36 injured when riding in "nonconforming buses." NTSB defines "nonconforming bus" as a "bus that does not meet the FMVSSs specific to school buses." Most of the victims, including eight of the fatalities, were children.

In the abstract of its report, the NTSB issued several Safety Recommendations, including the following that was directed to child care providers such as the National Association of Child Care Professionals, the National Child Care Association, and Young Mens' and Young Women's Christian Associations:

Inform your members about the circumstances of the accidents discussed in this special investigation report and urge that they use school buses or buses having equivalent occupant protection to school buses to transport children.

I am also enclosing NHTSA's February 1999 "Guideline for the Safe Transportation of Pre-school Age Children in School Buses." This guideline establishes NHTSA's recommendations for how pre-school age children should be transported in school buses.

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any further questions about NHTSA's programs, please feel free to contact Dorothy Nakama of my staff at this address or at (202) 366-2992.

Sincerely,
Frank Seales, Jr.
Chief Counsel
Enclosures
ref:VSA#571.3
d.5/26/00