Update: Right before the start of the new year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that responded to a petition from the School Bus Manufacturers’ Technical Council concerning school bus emergency exits.

The initial petition from the SBMTC called for a clarification concerning the location of the exterior handle on school bus rear emergency exit doors to the opposite side of the door hinges.

"The NPRM does not change the way manufacturers are building buses but rather clarifies some language specifically around the exterior handles of the emergency exits," said SBMTC Chair Shawn Finkbeiner. "If you have looked at a bus lately, you have observed that the exterior handles are at the edge of the door opposite of the hinge primarily."

The Dec. 28 NPRM also seeks to clarify FMVSS 217, specifically, the number of force applications required to open a window or roof emergency exit:

"For exits with one release mechanism, the exit shall require two force applications to open. The standard currently specifies that the 'mechanism' shall require two force applications to open. For exits with two release mechanisms, there shall be a total of three force applications to open the exit: one force application shall be applied to each of the two mechanisms to release the mechanism, and another force shall be applied to open the exit."

Public comments on the NPRM are due by Feb. 26, 2010.