Interpretation ID: nht87-1.27
TYPE: INTERPRETATION-NHTSA
DATE: 02/02/87
FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Erika Z. Jones; NHTSA
TO: Guy Vander Jagt
TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION
TEXT:
The Honorable Guy Vander Jagt U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515-2209
Dear Mr. Vander Jagt:
Thank you for your November 3, 1986, letter on behalf of your 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 t o 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's safety belt use law to belts on "public" buses. She believes that safety belts should be installed on school buses and 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 of 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, inclu ding 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 passengers because we have not found sufficient justification for such a requirement, given that buses have excellent safety records. This safety record arises in part from the fact that, in crash es 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 th ose experienced by car occupants. Also, because of the elevated stating 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 pr otection 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 safet y 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 to 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 asks whether there have been any proposals to apply Michigan's safety belt use law to public buses. Safety belt use requirements art 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 made available to equip buses with safety belts. For your information, while the Administration has not proposed any legislation affecting 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 can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Erika Z. Jones Chief Counsel
The Honorable Guy Vander Jagt House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Vander Jagt:
Thank you for your letter forwarding correspondence from your constituent, Miss Reva Darling.
I have transmitted your inquiry to the appropriate Departmental officials who are familiar with this matter and they will respond to you directly.
I appreciate your contacting me and hope you will not hesitate to call if I can be of any further assistance.
Sincerely,
Edward J. Babbitt Director, Office of Congressional Affairs
Mr. Ed Babbitt Director of Congressional Affairs Department of Transportation 400 7th Street, S.W., Room 10406 Washington, D.C. 20590
Dear Mr. Babbitt:
I have enclosed a copy of correspondence I received from a constituent, Miss Reva Darling, relative to seat belts in public buses.
As you will note, Miss Darling is interested any information on this issue. I would appreciate any information or comments you may be able to provide in response to her query.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
With all good wishes,
Sincerely,
Guy Vander Jagt Member of Congress
Rep. Guy Vander Jagt 2334 Rayburn Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Rep. Vander Jagt,
Hello, my name is Reva Darling and I am a junior in high school. I am writing in regard to the recent seatbelt law established in Michigan last year.
My question is this: Has there been any proposals in conjunction with applying this law to public buses? By buses, I am referring to both charter and/or school related buses. I believe that funding to make seatbelts possible on these vehicles is highly worthwhile considering the number of passengers and lives involved. I would appreciate any information that you could send me about hi s.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Reva Darling
Reva Darling 2456 S. Meyers Rd. Ludington, MI 49431