Federal Panel Says School Vans Can Pose Safety Risks

School districts might save money using vans instead of school buses to transport students, but it’s “an economical advantage purchased at the safety of children,” National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James E. Hall.

Wrapping up a special investigation into four crashes involving “nonconforming buses,” Hall said the standard yellow bus provides better crash protection than vans and should be the only type of vehicle used to take students to school and school-related activities.

The crashes that were the subject of the investigation occurred in 1998 and earlier this year in Sweetwater, Fla., Lenoir City, Tenn., East Dublin, Ga., and Bennettsville, S.C. They killed nine people, including eight students.

Investigators said the vehicle damage would have been less and the injuries not as severe had the accidents involved school buses, not a van or a “specialty bus”--a slightly larger vehicle akin to an airport rental car shuttle.

School buses, unlike standard passenger vans, have special rollover protections and encase their occupants in a cocoon of padded seats and seat backs.

They also have welds designed to keep them from splitting open on impact.

In addition, school buses are painted an eye-catching yellow and equipped with emergency exits, special warning lights and movable arms that block students from walking directly in front of them. Many of the protections date from a 1977 change in federal law, which was prompted by earlier recommendations from the safety board.

A “nonconforming bus” is any vehicle that can carry 10 or more people and is used to take students to school or school-related activities, yet does not meet federal school bus standards.

Federal law prohibits car dealers from selling vehicles that do not meet federal school bus regulations to schools that plan to use them to transport children.

However, many states have exemptions in their school bus laws for after-school, day care or church programs.

Even the federal government has lagged in developing rules for transporting children involved in such things as Head Start, the early-childhood education program.

The five-member board only has the power to make safety recommendations, not rules. In a unanimous vote, the board urged the nation’s governors to ensure that students are transported only in vehicles meeting the school bus standards.

The board also urged the Department of Health and Human Services to extend the same protection to children participating in Head Start.