Does it seem odd to you that when you get into a car, you have to buckle your seatbelt, but when you climb onto a bus, there aren't even any seatbelts to buckle? It seems odd and dangerous to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), which has proposed a new regulation requiring lap-shoulder belts in new buses.
While bus travel is a very safe mode of highway transportation in the U.S., carrying 750 million passengers annually, Sec. of Transportation Ray LaHood noted that an average of 19 bus occupants are killed each year. "Seat belts save lives, and putting them in motorcoaches (buses) just makes sense," he said in a press release.
The proposed new regulation would require lap/shoulder seat belts for each passenger seating position in new commercial buses. It would also require a lap/shoulder belt for all commercial bus and large school bus driver's seating positions, which currently are required to have either a lap or a lap/shoulder belt. The rule would not apply to passenger seating in school buses or in buses used for public transportation. The rule would also not require lap/shoulder seat belts to be installed in older buses. DOT excluded school buses and public transit buses from the proposed rule mainly due to the slower, stop-and-go nature of their trips.
The DOT estimates that implementation of the rule would result in a 77 percent reduction in the risk of fatal injuries in rollover bus crashes.
The lap/shoulder belt requirements for new buses would take effect three years after final adoption of the proposed regulation.
Also See:
Federal Regulations: Laws Behind the Acts of Congress
DOT Helping States Ban Texting While Driving
Texting Drives Us to Distraction: DOT Acts
Comments
Dear Fellow American;
Seat belts have a proven record of saving lives in cars, in airplanes, in baby/toddler car seats, why not in buses. I have been a proponent of seat belts {lab&shoulder} in school buses! Remember that when buses are involved in accidents, the often time “rollover” and this is clearly showing a need for seat restrains.
God Bless America and America bless God.
lja/JMJ