School Bus Transportation News at STN Media

'Like Mom and Apple Pie' 3-Point Seat Belts
Remain Fed Priority

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sooner rather than later, the nation's special needs students may be required to buckle-up in lap/shoulder belts.

NHTSA expects to have advanced notices of proposed rulemaking in place by the end of the year that would call for voluntary lap/shoulder seat belts on large school buses and mandatory 3-point restraints for special needs operations. The rules would effectively change FMVSS 208, 210 and 222; but first, bugs must be worked out in testing procedures.

"Seat belts always come up," said Charlie Hott, the administration's school bus representative. "It's like Mom and apple pie."

Hott told state pupil transportation directors attending the NASDPTS Conference in Austin, Texas a standard may evolve disallowing 2-point lap belts on school buses under the 10,000-pound gross weight vehicle rating (GWVR). A new rule would change Anton's Law, a congressional mandate providing for the improvement of child safety devices when installed in motor vehicles excluding school buses. He also said NHTSA is considering an NPRM on increasing the height of all school bus seat backs to 28 inches up from 24 inches, or the so-called "New York high seat back" already adopted by many states and local school districts across the country.

Any new standards would be both technologically and economically practicable and measure compliance objectively, he explained. They must also be performance oriented and appropriate for each school bus type.

But the Federal News Service's School Transportation Director reported last month that NHTSA will probably be unable to fund cost assessments for school districts, as the conference committee report on the administration's appropriations for fiscal year 2006 contained no funding for such an efforts. This despite a letter from former Administrator Jeffrey Runge to congressional committees in the fall stating NHTSA would develop a tool to measure the economic impact of installing the lap-shoulder harnesses on school buses.

Just this past Sept. 1, NHTSA was scheduled to begin a phase-in for lap/shoulder belts on all rear seating positions. An option for Type 1 lap belts or the Type 2 belts was also added for side-facing seats. Confusion initially arose when NHTSA issued its NPRM over original specifications including small school buses with a gross vehicle rating of 10,000 pounds or less. NHTSA added language to the final rule in Subpart D - Child Restraint Anchorage System Phase-in Reporting Requirements, Section 585.33 on Applicability that excludes school buses per S5 of FMVSS 225.

The stance by the federal government that implementation of the 3-point seat belts should remain voluntary for large school buses reflects its acceptance of compartmentalization as an effective passenger restraint system and understanding that the occupant restraints could reduce ridership. School bus seats are also the best of any motor vehicle on the road.

"Lap/shoulder belts, let's face it, are expensive," he said, citing an additional cost of around $7,000 to $7,500 per bus to install lap/shoulder belts. "You always have to maintain passive protection because you can't expect children to always have their seat belt on."