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Federal Funding For School Bus Seat Belts

By Associated Press

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters is proposing new rules that would allow school districts to use federal highway safety funds to equip school buses with seat belts. Federal Funding For School Bus Seat Belts

Published: Mon, November 19, 2007 - 10:07 am Last Updated: Mon, November 19, 2007 - 6:44 pm

MORRISVILLE, N.C. (AP) - U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary
Peters is proposing new rules that would allow school districts to
use federal highway safety funds to equip school buses with seat
belts.
Peters says the rules also would require higher seat backs to
better protect younger children during accidents when older
children or adults get thrown from their seats.
Peters made today's announcement during a visit to an elementary
school in Morrisville, North Carolina, which is among the first
schools in the country to equip some of its news buses with seat
belts.
All new small buses would be required to include seat belts
within three years of the new rule. Those buses are more prone to
rollover accidents.
Peters says if adopted, the new standards will apply to the
country's 474,000 school buses.
Earlier this month, Governor Bob Riley's study group on school
bus seat belts awarded a grant for a pilot program to see if belts
will make kids safer on buses. Riley appointed the panel after last
year's Huntsville school bus crash that killed four students.
“This is exactly the kind of leadership we asked for earlier this year, and I am very pleased Secretary Peters and the U.S. Department of Transportation are moving forward,” Governor Riley said.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)