Seat belts not part of school bus rules
Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters proposed rules to improve the safety of school bus seats and expand use of shoulder belts, but she declined to order seat belts for new buses.
Peters said she wanted to increase the height of seat backs on all school buses from 20 inches to 24 inches.
Peters also proposed that short school buses, which were more prone to rollovers, begin using shoulder straps. For longer buses she proposed allowing states the option of using federal highway safety funds to purchase new buses with seat belts.
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