Virginia is looking to update its school bus regulations effective for the 2010-2011 school year including a requirement that schools immediately address routes in which there are not enough seats for students.

June Eanes, state transportation director at the Department of Education, said the revision is the first since 2004. She also confirmed that three public hearings in Chesapeake, Salem and Springfield on Sept. 24 to discuss at least three measures under consideration. She added that three-point seat belts, required nationally on all newly manufactured small school buses by September of 2011, will be only part of the discussion.

Currently, the state gives school districts 30 days from the start of the school year to revise overcrowded bus routes and to “get those standing up back in their seat,” said Eanes. If passed, a new regulation would force schools to immediately revise routes and would prohibit any standing in aisles except in emergency situations and on certain short routes, the latter a decision to be left up to school districts. Schools would also be required to review bus routes and stops at least once a semester instead of the current annual reviews.

Schools would also be required to report to the education department any school bus crash that resulted in an injury or at least $1,000 in vehicle damage.

The state also hopes to revise regulations to match state law that would limit all school route and activity drivers to 13 hours of work in a 24-hour period. Additionally, high school students who drive themselves or others to school would be required to receive training on what to do when they come across a stopped school bus engaged in the loading or unloading of students as well as in safe following distances.