Seat belts on large buses to become law

WASHINGTON – New tour buses and buses that provide service between cities must be equipped with seat belts starting in late 2016 under a federal rule issued Wednesday, a safety measure sought by accident investigators for nearly a half century.

Beginning in November 2016, all new motorcoaches and some other large buses must be equipped by manufacturers with three-point lap-shoulder belts, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. The rule doesn’t apply to school buses or city transit buses.

An average of 21 people in large buses are killed each year in crashes, and nearly 8,000 others are injured annually, the safety administration said. Seat belts could reduce fatalities and moderate-to-severe injuries by nearly half. About half of all motorcoach fatalities are the result of rollovers, and about 70 percent of those killed in rollover accidents were ejected from the bus.

“Adding seat belts to motorcoaches increases safety for all passengers and drivers, especially in the event of a rollover crash,” said David Strickland, head of the safety administration.

The nation’s fleet of 29,000 motorcoaches transports about 700 million passengers a year in the United States, roughly equivalent to the domestic airline industry, according to the United Motorcoach Association. Since buses are typically on the road for about 20 to 25 years, it will likely be many years before most motorcoaches have seat belts.

The National Transportation Safety Board first recommended motorcoaches be equipped with seat belts in 1968 after investigating a highway crash that killed 19 passengers nearly the Mojave Desert town of Baker, Calif.

Hundreds of motorcoach passengers have died and even more have been injured, many severely, since the board made its initial recommendations. Victims have included college baseball players in Atlanta, Vietnamese churchgoers in Texas, skiers in Utah, gamblers returning to New York’s Chinatown, and members of a high school girls’ soccer team en route to a playoff match.

“This is a great victory for the safety of intercity bus travelers,” said Jacqueline Gillan, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. “ At last, consumers will be afforded the basic safety protections everyone enjoys when they get into their car