For many years safety advocates have urged that seat belts be mandatory in buses as they are in cars.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a final rule requiring lap and shoulder seat belts for each passenger and driver seat on new buses manufactured after November 2016. This new rule enhances the safety of these vehicles by significantly reducing the risk of fatalities and serious injuries in frontal crashes and the risk of occupant ejection in rollovers. In announcing the new requirement Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx stated that on average, 21 motorcoach and large bus occupants are killed and 7,934 are injured annually in motor vehicle crashes, according to NHTSA data. Requiring seat belts could reduce fatalities by up to 44% and reduce the number of moderate to severe injuries by up to 45%.
