Interpretation ID: aiam4265
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington
DC 20515-2209;
Dear Mr. Vander Jagt: Thank you for your November 3, 1986, letter on behalf of you constituent, Miss Reva Darling of Ludington, Michigan, who asked about requirements for safety belts on buses used for school transportation and other purposes. Your letter has been referred to my office for reply, since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is responsible for administering Federal programs relating to school bus safety.; Miss Darling is interested in extending the applicability of Michigan' safety belt use law to belts on 'public' buses. She believes that safety belts should be installed on school buses used by transit and charter companies, and suggests that funding be made available to encourage the installation of belts on those vehicles.; I appreciate this opportunity to respond to your inquiry. By way o background information, under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, NHTSA is authorized to develop motor vehicle safety standards applicable to all new motor vehicles, including school buses and charter and transit buses. Our belt installation requirements vary according to the type of vehicle, for example, different requirements apply to passenger cars than to buses. For buses generally, our requirements only specify that a safety belt must be installed for the bus driver. They do not require safety belts for passengers on large buses used for pupil transportation and other purposes.; We have not required large buses to have safety belts for passenger because we have not found sufficient justification for such a requirement, given that buses have excellent safety records. This safety record arises impart from the fact that, in crashes with other vehicles, buses tend to be substantially heavier than the other vehicle while cars tend to weigh approximately the same as the vehicle with which they crash. As a result, the crash forces experienced by bus occupants tend to be less than those experienced by car occupants. Also, because of the elevated seating positions in large buses, bus occupants sit above the area typically damaged in a collision with another vehicle. Further, we require large school buses to provide passenger crash protection with higher and stronger seats, additional seat padding, and better seat spacing and performance. That approach, together with the other attributes of large school buses, provides adequate levels of crash protection in school buses without safety belts. I have enclosed a copy of a NHTSA publication, 'Safety Belts in School Buses,' which addresses in more detail the issue of whether safety belts should be required on school buses.; NHTSA does not prevent States and local jurisdictions that wish t order safety belts on their own large buses from doing so. Although large buses are not required by Federal law to have passenger safety belts, bus owners are free to purchase their buses with safety belts installed if they believe their particular circumstances warrant such installation. However, we have no reason at this time to believe that such an installation is necessary as a Federal requirement applicable to all transit buses.; Miss Darling asked whether there have been any proposals to appl Michigan's safety belt use law to public buses. Safety belt use requirements are a matter of State rather than Federal law. Therefore, Michigan state officials would be able to answer Miss Darling's particular question concerning the state law.; On a final matter, Miss Darling suggested that funding be mad available to equip buses with safety belts. For your information, while the Administration has not proposed any legislation effecting school buses, H.R. 749 (introduced in the 99th Congress) proposed incentive grants to the States encouraging the adoption and enforcement of laws requiring the use of safety belts in school buses. H.R. 749, however, was not enacted.; I hope this information is helpful. Please contact my office if we ca be of further assistance.; Sincerely, Erika Z. Jones, Chief Counsel