NHTSA Administrator David Strickland testified last week before a House subcommittee that additional safety features for motorcoaches, namely seat belts, should not be considered for school buses, which he said remain the safest mode of travel for students.
On March 22, Ranking Member G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade asked for NHTSA’s position during a hearing on Motor Vehicle Safety Provisions in House and Senate Highway Bills. Strickland earlier testified that NHTSA’s NPRM on safety belts in motorcoaches could be finalized and issued this year.
Butterfield asked Strickland whether NHTSA was also considering seat belts for school buses, citing an “awful, awful” crash about 25 years ago in his district, which lies in the northeastern part of the state. Butterfield said all the students on board were killed.
Strickland answered that school buses are completely different vehicles than motorcoaches and reiterated NHTSA’s previous action to permit states or local jurisdictions to make decisions on equipping seat belts in school buses.
“The reason is this: The safest form of transportation for schoolchildren is school buses, period,” said Strickland.
He cited a “handful of deaths” on average each year, most of which occur outside the bus, and noted that only a couple of students are killed annually inside school buses as a result of crashes compared to the thousands of children using other modes of transportation.
“Adding the belts on the buses may actually decrease the number of buses available for children to ride, which would actually increase the number of fatalities of children who would be forced to take passenger cars,” Strickland added. “There is the structure of compartmentalization in buses that protects children, and frankly, considering the costs and the benefits of having the belts on buses, the agency feels it is not the appropriate measure at this time.”
Rep. Butterfield had no further questions. NHTSA also denied a petition last fall from the Center for Auto Safety that asked NHTSA to mandate seat belts on all school buses.
Strickland also testified that NHTSA is close to promulgating rules on Electronic Stability Control for heavy-duty vehicles and roof-crush standards for motorcoaches. He said that all such rules will rely heavily on sound science.
