Interpretation ID: 1985-02.8

TYPE: INTERPRETATION-NHTSA

DATE: 04/04/85

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Jeffrey R. Miller; NHTSA

TO: Mr. M. B. Roosen

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT:

Mr. M. B. Roosen Director of Transportation Richland County School District One 927 Whaley Street Columbia, South Carolina 29201

Dear Mr. Roosen:

This responds to your February 25, 1985 letter to me requesting information about our school bus regulations. You have been asked by your school district to purchase new 15-passenger vans for use on school related activity trips. You believe that our regulations require that 15-passenger vans sold as school buses must be certified as meeting the school bus safety standards. Your understanding is correct.

In your letter, you requested that we send you a copy of the regulation that requires manufacturers and dealers who sell new buses to schools to sell school buses that comply with our school bus safety standards. As explained below, this mandate is found in the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, and the 1974 amendments to that Act.

To begin, I would like to explain that our agency has two sets of regulations, issued under different Acts of Congress, that affect school buses. The first of these, the motor vehicle safety standards issued by our agency under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-563) apply to the manufacture and sale of new motor vehicles. In a 1974 amendment to the Act, Congress expressly directed us to issue standards on specific aspects of school bus safety. The standards we issued became effective April 1, 1977, and apply to each school bus manufactured on or after that date. You will find a copy of the Vehicle Safety Act enclosed. The 1974 amendment is incorporated in S103(i)(1)(A) and S103(i)(1)(B).

The Vehicle Safety Act contains the following definition of "school bus":

"Schoolbus" means a passenger motor vehicle which is designed to carry more than 10 passengers in addition to the driver, and which the Secretary determines is likely to be significantly used for the purpose of transporting primary, preprimary, or secondary school students to or from such schools or events related to such schools. (Emphasis added.)

Section 108 (a)(1)(A) of the Vehicle Safety Act prohibits the manufacture and sale of, any new motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment that does not conform to applicable motor vehicle safety standards. Since the 15-passenger vans you plan to purchase are included in the above definition, they are school buses subject to the school bus safety standards. Under the Vehicle Safety Act, any person selling you a new school bus must sell a vehicle that complies with the school bus safety standards. I have enclosed a December 31, 1975, Federal Register notice (40 FR 60033) which discusses the responsibility of manufacturers and dealers to sell complying school buses.

This agency also administers a set of guidelines for State highway safety programs under the authority of the Highway Safety Act (Public Law 89-564). These guidelines, called Highway Safety Program Standards, cover a wide range of subjects. Individual States have chosen to adopt some or all of the guidelines as their own policies governing their highway safety programs. Highway Safety Program Standard (HSPS) No. 17, Pupil Transportation Safety, recommends that a bus used to transport 16 or less students be identified with the words "School Bus" and comply with the standard's requirements for color, mirrors and signal lamps, or be devoid of all of these characteristics. As it happens, however, a bus sold for use as a school bus is required by the Vehicle Safety Act to have warning lights and mirrors ( as well as many other safety features) . Because it must have this equipment, a 15-passenger bus in a State whose law fully incorporates HSPS No. 17 would have to be painted and signed as a school bus. For a State that has adopted this standard as its own policy, these specifications apply to activity buses as well as to the buses used for daily transportation.

I want to stress that HSPS No. 17 will affect you only if South Carolina has adopted it and if South Carolina accepts our view that the specifications apply to activity buses. Your State officials will be able to give you more information about other State requirements for school buses.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Original Signed By

Jeffrey R. Miller Chief Counsel

Enclosures

February 25, 1985

Chief Counsel U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Safety Administration Washington, D.C. 20590

Dear Sir:

I have been requested by members of this school district to purchase commercial type 15 passenger vans. These vehicles will be used for the purpose of transporting school students on field trips and other social related functions.

I am of the opinion that this type equipment is not authorized for these purposes, since they do not comply with the school bus safety standards. I have no regulations or documentation to confirm this, which is my problem.

I would appreciate very much if you could send me the regulations or advise me where I might obtain this information concerning this subject.

Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

M.B. Roosen Director of Transportation 803/799-1477

MBR/jl