SPECIAL REPORT
quiring small school buses under 10,000 pounds GVWR to have passenger lap/shoulder belts. But in doing so, NHTSA denied a petition for rulemaking on lap/shoul- der belts in larger school buses, citing cost, which the agency said could also result in potentially displacing students off the school bus and onto less safe vehicles, and that seatbelts would only save on average two addi- tional student lives per year. Since then, seatbelt technology has advanced to
counter reduced passenger capacity. Flex seating allows most elementary students to sit three to a row, while larger students and high schoolers sit two to a row. Meanwhile, NHTSA’s update to Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard 222 resulted in enhanced compartmen- talization for larger school buses (adding 4 inches to seat back height) and voluntary performance standards for passenger lap belts and passenger lap/shoulder belts. The NTSB issued new recommendations to states in accordance with FMVSS 222 to install lap/shoulder belts. H-18-9 calls on selected states to amend statutes to upgrade the seatbelt requirement from lap belts to lap/ shoulder belts for all passenger seating positions in new large school buses. H-18-10 calls on other states to enact legislation requiring all newly manufactured large school buses
to be equipped with passenger lap/shoulder belts at all passenger seating positions. Meg Sweeney, NTSB project manager and accident
investigator, noted during the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services in November that school districts need to also prioritize the safety of their employees. She referenced a Dec. 17, 2021 school bus crash in Monaville, Texas, involving a mod- el-year 2018, 43-passenger school bus with seatbelts, that occurred when the driver became distracted by the vehicle’s vent window and lost control. An aide who was sitting facing the aisle and not wear- ing a seatbelt was ejected and fatally injured. The driver and three student passengers sustained minor injuries. One student passenger restrained in a child safety seat was uninjured. NTSB noted that had the available seat- belts been worn by all passengers, injuries would have been reduced and the ejection prevented. The Texas district, Hempstead Independent School
District, has since updated its policy to require seatbelt use by staff that is in line with state’s mandatory seatbelt policy for students. Meanwhile, Julie A. Mansfield, a research assistant
professor at the Injury Biomechanics Research Center and co-director of the Center for Child Injury Preven-
24 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2024
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