This is an issue I feel strongly about. BUSES NEED SEAT BELTS. I have blogged on this before on several different occasions. (Here, here, and here for example).

Monday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced new buses would be required to have lap-shoulder belts. The article I saw did not reference when the rule would take effect (generally three years from the final published rule), and whether buses would be required to be retrofitted. It did state that most bus fatalities occurred when passengers were thrown from a bus in a rollover, and that seat belts would cut that risk by 77%.

Given that the study showed that 65% of all bus passengers are children and the elderly, isn’t it past time we had seat belts on buses? 

The full NHTSA proposed rule can be found here.