NHTSA Announces NPRM for Large School Bus Occupant Restraints to Come this Fall

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 11, 2007) — NHSTA administrator Nicole Nason moved up a deadline for issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that give states and local school districts more "comprehensive" guidance on how to address such passenger safety issues as 3-point lap-shoulder seat belts and the industry standard of compartmentatlization.

Earlier, a NHTSA representative told the gathering that the NPRM would not be released until early 2008.

There was a wide range of discussions on implementation, including improving compartmentalization by raising the height of seat backs. There was also discussion on the inclusion of air bags as a way to improve the existing passive restraint system. The addition of side curtains at impact zones was also mentioned at one point during the meeting.

U.S. DOT Secretary
Mary E. Peters

Approximately 150 representatives from the school bus industry, local and state governments, and the education domain, as well as safety proponents and consumer groups, met in Washington, D.C. today to discuss the issue at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel.

The public meeting began with an address from U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters in which she asked the day’s participants to investigate any and all possibilities to improve safety for the 25 million elementary and secondary school children that ride the yellow bus every day.

“(Children) are nearly eight times safer in a school bus than riding with their own parent in the family car. So the question we should ask is how we can make this number lower still, so that no parent ever has to hear the heartbreaking news that the cherished child they sent off in the bus in the morning is never coming home,” said Secretary Peters in her speech. “We owe it to our children to look at this issue with fresh eyes. All of us need to ask this question — and this forum is the perfect place for this: Are we doing everything we can to make the ride to and from school as safe as possible?”

There were four separate panel discussions on such topics as state and local policy and the economics of seat belts on buses. A complete schedule of the day’s events is available online.

Camera crews from C-SPAN were present and will televise the meeting. Visit the C-SPAN Web site for the date and times when the footage will air. Nason was also interviewed on the morning edition of "The Early Show" on CBS .