National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy recently applauded the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for addressing the importance of the structural integrity of large buses in protecting occupants in a roll-over crash.
The NHTSA published its final rule intended to protect occupants during motor coach and large-bus rollovers on Dec. 29, the agency announced Jan. 14. The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 227, "Bus rollover structural integrity," addresses the structural integrity of buses and motor coaches with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 26,000 pounds, the announcement states.
“NHTSA's action is a positive step toward ensuring occupant safety on motor coaches and other large buses," Homendy said in the statement. “The NTSB has been calling for this protection for bus passengers for more than 20 years."
The NTSB updated its recommendations on bus roof strength and window integrity following its investigation of a fatal crash in 2019 involving a mid-sized tour bus, the agency reports. The NTSB now recommends the NHTSA require all newly manufactured buses with gross vehicle weight ratings above 10,000 pounds to meet a roof strength standard that provides maximum survival space for all seating positions and accounts for typical window dimensions, and to meet a window glazing standard that prevents occupant ejection, the agency states.
Homendy agrees that the same standards required of large passenger buses also be applied to smaller buses and other passenger vehicles.
"Although more work is needed to protect occupants of all buses, we are encouraged by NHTSA's actions on this rulemaking and look forward to future rulemaking addressing lighter-weight buses," Homendy said in the anouncement.
