Shuster Pushes For Motorcoach Safety Act

By Rob Gebhart
Daily American Staff Writer
Saturday, December 22, 2007

Six baseball players from Bluffton University were killed in March when the bus they were riding in plunged from an overpass.

Following the tragedy, Rep. Paul Gillmor, whose Congressional district included Bluffton University, began pushing for legislation to update motorcoach regulations. But Gillmor died before he could introduce the legislation.

Now Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Hollidaysburg, has taken the effort. A member of the House transportation and infrastructure committee, Shuster introduced the Bluffton University Safety Act of 2007 earlier this month.

The American Bus Association, a trade organization of the intercity bus association, is touting the proposed law as landmark legislation. It directs the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to conduct comprehensive scientific research to determine the direction of future regulatory requirements for motorcoach transportation. It calls for the most sweeping look at motorcoach travel ever conducted.

"There's never been a sweeping comprehensive look at motorcoaches in this manner. For a long time, we've been urging regulators to do this kind of thing," Eron Shosteck, spokesman for the American Bus Association, said.

The law only effects motorcoaches. It does not include school buses.

"Every day, thousands of people from across the country travel on buses and motorcoaches. These vehicles carry commuters, families and pleasure travelers across our roads, highways, and interstates," Shuster said. "It is essential that safety requirements be based on science under timelines that the industry can actually achieve."

The law is important to Pennsylvania because the state is a hub of travel, said Shuster's spokesman Jeff Urbanchuk. Almost every region of the state contains a major thoroughfare that is heavily traveled by buses.

Among other things, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration will investigate the possible safety benefits of seat belts, changing restraint standards and window glazing, Shosteck said.

The work is complicated, he explained, because a bus and its components are an integrated system; one part of the vehicle cannot be changed without affecting the entire vehicle. Safety equipment must be engineered into the vehicle, not just bolted on.

Motorcoaches are one of the safest forms of travel, Shosteck said. The average fatality rate for motorcoaches is 20 to 25 deaths a year. For personal automobiles, the death rate is 41,000 a year.

But there is always room for improvement.

"Safety is the top priority and nobody knows the definitive answer to the question of whether mandating belts on buses will enhance safety," said Peter Pantus, president of the American Bus Association. "The research called for by Congressman Shuster's bill would provide the answer to guide motorcoach safety engineers. For the first time, we'll have the breadth of information needed prior to making any prospective alterations to vehicle design and architecture."

The legislation has been introduced to the transportation and infrastructure committee, ways and means committee and energy and commerce committees, Shosteck said. The speaker of the house has yet to decide which committee will have jurisdiction.

(Rob Gebhart can be reached at robg@dailyamerican.com [2].)