This
is an original
NHTSA Interpretation File[This
file was downloaded from the NHTSA
Website] March
31, 1999 Richard
Nelson, Director
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
Regulation
and Licensure
P. O. Box 95007
Lincoln, NE 68509-5007 Dear
Mr. Nelson: This
responds to a letter from your predecessor, Ms. Gina Dunning, regarding a "new
regulation" that Ms. Dunning believed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) has issued which "prohibits the sale of commercial vans with a capacity
of eleven or more to child care centers that transport children to or from school
and school-related activities and Head Start programs." As the head of the Nebraska
regulatory agency for child care programs, Ms. Dunning expressed concern about
its effect on transportation for children in your state. Let
me begin by explaining that NHTSA's school bus regulations have not changed. We
have, however, clarified our interpretation of the regulations. Our statute, at
49 U.S.C. §30112, requires any person selling or leasing a new vehicle, including
a new school bus, to sell or lease a vehicle that meets all applicable safety
standards. Our statute defines a "schoolbus" as any vehicle that is designed for
carrying 11 or more persons and which is likely to be "used significantly" to
transport preprimary, primary, and secondary students "to or from school
or an event related to school" (emphasis added). 49 U.S.C. §30125. Any person
selling a new "school bus" must sell a vehicle that meets our school bus safety
standards, or risk civil penalties under Federal law. In
recent interpretation letters to NHTSA, the agency was asked to address situations
where non-educational institutions are procuring buses to transport children to
or from school. In answering these, we had to determine whether the bus was to
be "used significantly" to transport the students to or from school. >If a
new bus is sold for such purpose, the dealer selling such a vehicle for that purpose
must sell a bus that has been certified as meeting our school bus safety standards.
There are van-based vehicles, completed by school bus manufacturers, that are
certified to those standards. One
of those letters involved a dealer selling a new 15-passenger van to a child care
facility which planned to significantly use the van for school transportation.
The letter is dated July 23, 1998,
to Mr. Don Cote of Northside Ford in San Antonio, Texas (copy enclosed). In that
letter, we explained that the large passenger van is a "school bus" under our
regulations. Thus, when a dealer sells or leases a new van for such use, the dealer
must sell or lease only buses that meet Federal motor vehicle safety standards
for school buses, even when the purchaser is a child care facility.(1) The
Cote letter discusses NHTSA's reexamination of two previous letters addressed
to Ms. Vel McCaslin of Grace After School. In arriving at the conclusions set
forth in the Cote letter, NHTSA decided that the letters to Ms. McCaslin did not
focus on the fact that the buses were being used to transport school children
"from school" as specified in 49 U.S.C. § 30125. To the extent that the McCaslin
letters are inconsistent with it, the Northside Ford letter superceded the letters
to Ms. McCaslin. This
change in interpretation applies only to persons that sell new buses, not to school
bus purchasers or users. NHTSA cannot require Nebraska's institutions, including
schools or child care centers, to buy only school buses for use in transporting
students. How children are to be transported to or from school is determined by
Nebraska state law. Ms.
Dunning expressed concern whether "children are indeed safer being transported
by school buses than commercial vans," and indicated that while that might have
been true in 1974, her belief is that vans are safer today than they were in 1974.
All motor vehicles, including passenger vans and other buses, must meet higher
safety standards today than they did in 1974. Nevertheless, children are still
much safer when transported by school bus, than by passenger van or passenger
car. This point is illustrated in the enclosed NHTSA publication "School Bus Safety:
Safe Passage for America's Children." Page
12 of the publication shows how safety is enhanced for school buses, with a table
summarizing the Federal motor vehicle safety standards applicable to school buses.
Passenger vans are not required to meet the described safety enhancements. Ms.
Dunning expressed concern about the fact that the large school buses are not required
to provide seat belts. I am enclosing NHTSA's position on this issue, titled "Seatbelts
on School Buses." This information is from NHTSA's web site at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/interps/files/www.nhtsa.dot.gov.
In brief, our position has been that school bus crash data show that Federal requirement
for belts on school buses would provide little, if any, added protection in a
crash. Ms. Dunning
also believed that child care centers that purchase school buses "will incur significantly
higher vehicle costs and higher insurance, maintenance and fuel costs." We have
examined the issues of costs and availability. Our inquiries to the vehicle manufacturers
indicate that while school buses are somewhat more expensive than large vans,
the difference is not so large that it would prevent child care centers from acquiring
school buses. The cost range for 15-passenger school buses is approximately $30-32,000,
compared to $25-28,000 for 15-passenger vans. The longer service life for school
buses will offset a part of this difference. Ms.
Dunning's final point was that child care centers have expressed concern about
the length of time it takes between ordering a school bus and its delivery. Ms.
Dunning said that the delay hampers the child care centers' operations and "will
seriously impact centers' ability to meet parent needs and remain in business."
NHTSA has a very strong focus on child safety in transportation, and is doing
its best to facilitate school bus purchases for child care centers that seek to
purchase school buses for their school-aged children. The leadtime required for
delivery of a school bus may be two or three months longer than for a large van,
but this should not present a problem for organizations that follow a systematic
plan for vehicle replacement. We are currently working with our partners in state
and local communities, and in the school bus industry, to see what can be done
to reduce the time between a school bus order and its delivery. For
your information, because of the increasing number of pre-school aged children
being transported by school buses and the pupil transportation community's request
for guidance on how to safely transport these children, NHTSA released a February1999
Guideline for Transporting Pre-school Aged Children in School Buses. A copy of
this document is enclosed for your information. I
hope this information is helpful. If you have any further questions, please feel
free to contact Dorothy Nakama of my staff at this address or by telephone at
(202) 366-2992. Sincerely,
Frank Seales, Jr.
Chief Counsel
Enclosures (4 items)
ref:VSA#Part
571.3 1.
Please note that NHTSA has never stated that day care facilities that provide
only custodial care are "schools." NHTSA's laws do not affect new bus sales to
child care facilities that are not significantly involved in transporting school
aged children "to or from" school. The Cote letter could affect the facility if
it is involved in transporting children to or from school. |
