According to accident statistics, motorcoaches are among the safest vehicles on the road; however, motorcoaches transport 631 million passengers annually, with each bus carrying a substantial number of people at high exposure to risk from a highway crash.One of the primary causes of passenger injury in motorcoach buses is passengers' being thrown from their seating area during an accident. In its 1999 special investigation report on bus crashworthiness, the NTSB concluded that the overall injury risk to occupants in motorcoach accidents involving rollover and ejection might be reduced significantly by retaining the occupant in the seating compartment throughout the collision. The NTSB asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to require new motorcoach bus occupant protection systems that retain passengers in their seating area. In addition, stronger bus roofs and easy-to-open bus window emergency exits are needed to enhance safety.
In 2002, NHTSA met separately with motorcoach manufacturers and operators to address, through a cooperative research program, the issue of bus window retention and release, including hold-open devices for breakout windows; no research plan was agreed upon at those meetings. In fall 2004, NHTSA signed a memorandum of understanding with Transport Canada to carry out research in the areas of roof crush and window retention technology, with a goal of keeping occupants in the vehicle, because most motorcoach fatalities occur when passengers are ejected from the vehicle. NHTSA's research shows that in most accidents, the bus only rolls 1/4 turn and comes to rest on its side; therefore, the installation of roof exits as an alternative to window exits for the rapid emergency egress of bus passengers was also being examined.
On August 6, 2007, NHTSA issued a memorandum, "NHTSA's Approach to Motorcoach Safety," which presented a comprehensive review of motorcoach safety issues and the course of action that NHTSA would pursue to address them. Emergency egress, seat belts, and roof strength were determined to be priorities on which NHTSA would be focusing over the next 2 to 3 years. In the course of its research, NHTSA is studying its own regulations-such as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 217, which establishes minimum requirements for bus window retention and release to reduce the likelihood of passenger ejection in crashes-as well as international standards to determine the best way to proceed with the establishment of new requirements to better protect motorcoach passengers.
NHTSA has moved forward with motorcoach testing. In December 2007, the agency conducted a full-scale motorcoach frontal crash test using crash test dummies in various belted and unbelted seating positions; preliminary results show that the lap/shoulder restraints resulted in the best outcome. NHTSA conducted further seat belt research during summer 2008 with sled testing, to be used as the basis for developing a static loading test procedure. In February 2008, NHTSA also conducted four motorcoach roof-strength tests. Tests were performed on both a Prevost motorcoach and an MCI motorcoach using both the U.S. school bus FMVSS 220 procedure (uniform load crush) and the European ECE R.66 procedure (quasi-static drop off raised platform). Test results are currently being evaluated to determine how to proceed with rulemaking. An additional roof-strength ECE R.66 test was conducted on a 2000 MCI motorcoach on July 22, 2009. The results of this test will assist NHTSA in developing roof-strength-related rulemaking.
On April 30, 2009, following the NTSB Board Meeting on the Mexican Hat, Utah, motorcoach rollover accident, the Secretary of Transportation ordered a full departmental review of motorcoach safety by NHTSA, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The review's findings and consideration of outstanding NTSB recommendations to U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies became the basis of the DOT Motorcoach Safety Action Plan, publicly released on November 16, 2009, which outlines the additional steps needed to improve motorcoach safety for the millions of Americans who rely on these vehicles for safe transportation. Rulemaking requiring the installation of seat belts on motorcoaches is expected to be published in May 2010, and enhanced emergency egress requirements focusing on children, aging persons, and people with disabilities will be developed in 2010. NHTSA had planned to make a decision on regulatory action regarding roof strength requirements late in 2009, but no updates have yet been released.
Continue efforts to improve motorcoach design and to address construction and occupant protection issues.
H-99-9 (NHTSA)
Issued February 26, 1999
Added to the Most Wanted List: 2000
Status: Open-Acceptable Response
Revise the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 217, "Bus Window Retention and Release," to require that other than floor-level emergency exits can be easily opened and remain open during an emergency evacuation when a motorcoach is upright or at unusual attitudes. (Source: Selective Motorcoach Issues. [NTSB/SIR-99/01])
H-99-47 (NHTSA)
Issued November 2, 1999
Added to the Most Wanted List: 2000
Status: Open-Unacceptable Response
In 2 years, develop performance standards for motorcoach occupant protection systems that account for frontal impact collisions, side impact collisions, rear impact collisions, and rollovers. (Source: Bus Crashworthiness Issues. [NTSB/SIR-99/04])
H-99-50 (NHTSA)
Issued November 2, 1999
Added to the Most Wanted List: 2000
Status: Open-Unacceptable Response
In 2 years, develop performance standards for motorcoach roof strength that provide maximum survival space for all seating positions and that take into account current typical motorcoach window dimensions. (Source: Bus Crashworthiness Issues.[NTSB/SIR-99/04])
