Interpretation ID: nht93-4.16

DATE: June 3, 1993

FROM: John Womack -- Acting Chief Counsel, U.S. Department of Transportation, NHTSA

TO: Berkley C. Sweet -- Executive Vice President, School Bus Manufacturers Institute

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 3-2-93 from Berkley C. Sweet to Mary Versailles (OCC 8393); Also attached to letter dated 3-20-90 from Stephen P. Wood to Cadwallader Jones (A35; VSA 102(14); Part 571.3)

TEXT: This responds to your letter requesting definitions of primary, preprimary, and secondary school students. You write in response to our July 28, 1992 letter to you in which we state that the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. S1581, et seq. (Safety Act), defines a school bus as a vehicle that is "likely to be significantly used for the purposes of transporting PRIMARY, PREPRIMARY, or SECONDARY school students to or from such schools or events related to such schools" (emphasis added).

The terms primary, preprimary, and secondary school are not defined in the Safety Act or in the legislative history of the Act. However, NHTSA has historically interpreted "preprimary school" to refer to kindergarten, nursery schools and Head Start facilities. "Primary school" refers to elementary school, and "secondary school" refers to high school.

I have enclosed a copy of our March 20, 1990 letter to Mr. Cadwallader Jones that discusses whether various institutions (e.g., church schools and colleges) are considered "schools" under the Safety Act.

The various states may have their own definitions of a "school" for determining the use requirements for school vehicles. Therefore, you should check with the state where questions of school vehicle use are at issue.

I hope the above information will be of assistance to you. If you have any further questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact Walter Myers of my staff at this address or at (202) 366-2992.