DOT to Adopt NHTSA Bus Safety Plan to Prevent Accidents
A series of bus accidents in recent months in Georgia and around the country have focused attention on our antiquated bus safety laws, including the failure to mandate seatbelts on buses, and have better scrutiny of motor coach companies.
As an Atlanta bus accident lawyer, I have been particularly troubled by the fact that NTSB recommendations to the FMCSA to mandate seatbelts on buses have been ignored for several years. That’s why it is very encouraging to read about the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and its Motor Coach Safety Action Plan that aims to prevent accidents and minimize injuries. The plan includes measures that will
- Require on-board recorders that will prevent motor coach drivers from operating their vehicles for longer than stipulated by federal laws. This will minimize the number of bus crashes that are caused by driver fatigue, like the one involving a casino bus in California that killed 11 people last year.
- Ban drivers from text messaging while at the wheel, and place restrictions on the use of cell phones while driving. Studies have shown that the risk of accidents increases by 23 percent when a driver is texting at the wheel.
- Make it harder for shady bus operators to be able to quickly rename companies and continue operations, when they are forced to shut down after violations have been found. Such unscrupulous companies find it easy to cover their tracks after an accident, making it hard for investigators to find out who owns the bus.
- Require seatbelts on buses.
- Develop stronger roof crush and collapse standards to prevent the kind of serious injuries that often occur when the roof of the bus disintegrates in a collision.
The Department of Transportation has already indicated its intention of adopting these measures. Seatbelt use may have prevented the kind of serious injuries and fatalities that occurred in the Bluffton University bus accident in Atlanta in 2007, which killed 7 occupants. The NTSB recommended seatbelts, and their use, on buses several decades ago, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has failed to act on these recommendations.
