Interpretation ID: nht81-2.26

DATE: May 12, 1981

FROM: Frank Berndt -- Chief Counsel, NHTSA

TO: Doris Perlmutter -- Betty-June School

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 6-11-90 from Ron Marion to Paul Jackson Rice (OCC 4915); Attached to letter dated 11-11-77 from James Tydings to Roger Tilton; Also attached to letter dated 12-21-77 from Joseph J. Levin, Jr. to James Tydings; Also attached to letter dated 3-8-91 from Paul Jackson Rice to Ron Marion (A37; VSA 102(14) Part 571.3); Also attached to letter dated 5-10-82 from Frank Berndt (Signature by Stephen P. Wood) to Martin V. Chauvin

TEXT:

This responds to your March 20, 1981, letter asking that we reconsider our interpretation that the school bus safety standards apply to vehicles that transport 10 or more children to or from nursery schools. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is unable to alter this interpretation.

The Congress in Public Law 93-492 stated that school bus safety standards shall apply to vehicles that transport more than 10 persons to or from preprimary, primary or secondary schools. A nursery school is considered a preprimary school and thus falls within the ambit of that law. We cannot alter the requirements of the law.