On 2005-04-07 04:12:00, SHH wrote:
The school also owns 4 buses that they take kids to events in. THey are green and seat about 30 kids each and say HLA on the side and each one has an A,B,C, or D letter. Why do I know about the buses? Because I went with my husband to Jacksonville, FL to look at the facility where they are made and where my husband purchased them. They were purchased I believe in 1998. they wanted to check out the size and cost and safety of them.
while 'private schools' are exempt, this is still an interesting survey:
Survey of State Laws on 12- and 15-Passenger Vans Used for School TransportationThe National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services recently surveyed its State Director members to determine the current state-by-state laws/regulations on the use of 12-and 15-passenger vans to transport students to and from school or on school-related activity trips. The survey was done in order to update an earlier study done in 1999. This latest information will allow the association to respond to questions from legislators, the media and the public. A copy of the survey results is attached.
The following summarizes the results of the survey:
? 29 states have laws or regulations that prohibit the use of vans for transporting public school students to and from school and school-related activities.
? 12 states have laws and regulations that prohibit the use of vans for transporting public school students to and from school, but allow the use of vans for school activity trips. [Note: One state has passed legislation that will prohibit the use of vans for activity trips after June 30, 2006.]
? 9 states allow the use of vans for transporting public school students to and from school and school-related activities. [Note: One of these nine states has passed legislation that will not allow the use of vans to transport students after June 1, 2008. Another state has a state-wide, self-insurance pool that will not insure vans used to transport students after July 1, 2005.]
? In many states, the laws and regulations that apply to public schools may not apply to private and church-sponsored schools.
The State Directors Association believes that it is appropriate to require higher levels of safety in vehicles that transport children to and from school and school-related activities.
Accordingly, the State Directors Association supports the position that school children should be transported in school buses which provide the highest levels of safety, not in 12- and 15-passenger vans which do not meet the stringent school bus safety standards issued by the Federal government and recommended by the National Conference on School Transportation, an organization of state school transportation officials.
For that reason, the State Directors Association endorses the statements made by Dr. Jeffrey W. Runge, Administrator of NHTSA, in an April 15, 2002, letter to school transportation professionals across the Nation:
School buses that comply with NHTSA?s school bus safety standards are the safest form of pupil transportation. A school?s purchase or use of 10-15 passenger vans or non-school buses could result in school children being transported in vehicles that do not provide an appropriate level of safety. While most States require the use of school buses to transport children to and from school and school-related events, some States do not. We urge you to take steps to ensure that all school children in your State are carried on school buses that are certified by their manufacturers as meeting NHTSA?s school bus standards.
During its 2003 annual conference, the State Directors Association passed a resolution encouraging legislative action and sent it to both the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate. The resolution encouraged Federal legislators ?to re-introduce legislation to prohibit the sale, lease and use of new and used non-compliant motor vehicles for the transportation of school-aged children to and from school and/or school-related activities, including Head Start and daycare transportation.?
Such legislation has been introduced in Congress in earlier years, but never reached a full vote in either the House or the Senate. Finally, the State Directors Association believes states are in the best position to ensure that vans, both new and used, are not used in lieu of school buses.
This action can be accomplished by establishing strict requirements on the types of motor vehicles that can be used within a state for transporting children to and from school and school-related activities, and enforcing those requirements. It is important that state legislatures understand that allowing the use of vans for transporting students either to and from school or on school activity trips causes any dealer that sells or leases a new van to schools to violate a Federal law.
© 2004 National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services. All rights reserved.February 2004
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