Retire All Buses Built Before ‘77, U.S. Panel Urges
Due to safety concerns, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recently advised school officials to retire more than one-fifth of the nation’s school buses that were built before 1977. This recommendation follows a 10-month investigation into a tragic school bus accident in Kentucky last spring, where 27 people lost their lives. The NTSB proposes that states implement a phase-out of buses manufactured before the tightened federal standards were introduced in 1977. If this proposal is implemented nationwide, it would impact 77,000 school buses, which accounts for approximately 22 percent of all currently in use.
Estimates provided by states indicate that replacing these buses would cost over $2 billion. State education officials have mentioned that some states have already started retiring older buses. However, financial constraints have been the primary obstacle preventing a formal phase-out plan from being implemented in many states. For instance, New Jersey began a 10-year retirement program in 1977, resulting in all pre-standard buses being taken off the roads. On the other hand, in California, nearly 45 percent of buses owned by public schools are pre-1977 models, according to Ron Kinney, the state supervisor of school transportation. Kinney estimates that it would cost $450 million to replace the older buses in the public-school fleet. The current budget for bus replacement in the state is $3.1 million per year.
The NTSB has stated that the construction of the school bus involved in the Kentucky incident contributed to the severity of the accident. The board specifically highlighted the bus’s unprotected fuel tank, flammable seat covers, and partially obstructed rear door as factors. The bus, which belonged to the First Assembly of God in Radcliff, Kentucky, was returning from an amusement park near Cincinnati late at night when an alleged drunken driver traveling in the wrong direction on an interstate highway collided with it. The impact caused the fuel tank to rupture, engulfing the bus in flames. Out of the 66 passengers, 27 lost their lives. The victims, consisting of 3 adults and 24 children, all died from smoke inhalation. According to the NTSB, this bus had been built just two weeks before the stricter federal school bus safety requirements took effect on April 1, 1977. These standards specify that school buses must have stronger frames, increased rivets in the bus body, roofs capable of supporting one-and-a-half times the bus’s weight, higher seat backs for added passenger protection, additional emergency exits, and improved protection for fuel tanks, such as crash-resistant steel cages and metal tubing instead of hoses.
However, NTSB officials have acknowledged that it is uncertain whether the additional safety measures would have prevented the fuel tank rupture in the Kentucky accident, as it could have been caused by a dislodged spring during the collision. At the time of the Kentucky accident, there were approximately 1,200 pre-standard buses owned by school districts in the state, with half of those serving as spares. As of now, only 200 pre-1977 buses remain out of the 7,000 buses statewide, and not all of these older vehicles are deployed on a daily basis. Following the accident, the state board of education passed a resolution that recommended, but did not mandate, local school districts to retire the older buses. Additionally, Governor Wallace G. Wilkinson established a bus safety task force, which has proposed various new safety regulations. Recently, the task force has shifted its focus from structural issues with buses to the volatility of the fuels used.
However, it is worth mentioning that many of the older buses would have been phased out anyway after ten years of use. Larry McEntire, the administrator of school transportation management in Florida, agrees that attrition and encouragement from the state have been effective in eliminating these buses. Out of 12,000 buses in Florida during the 1987-88 school year, 2,077 pre-1977 buses were still in use, either on a daily basis or as spares. The state requires superintendents to propose replacement schedules to local school boards, and some districts have already completely replaced the older buses. Since the last inventory was conducted, indicating that 2,077 pre-standard buses were still operational, Florida has acquired almost 1,500 new buses. Meanwhile, Virginia has implemented a mandatory phase-out plan, with pre-standard buses scheduled to be taken off the road by June 30, 1991.
Due to the nonbinding nature of the recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a state would likely not be held legally responsible for not following the board’s advice in the event of a fatal accident involving a bus manufactured before 1977. Ivan B. Gluckman, legal counsel for the National Association of Secondary School Principals, explained that although the recommendations are not legally binding, a plaintiff’s attorney in such a case could potentially use the NTSB’s advice as evidence. Gluckman also acknowledged that the lack of funds is the main reason why the state of California has not implemented a mandatory phase-out plan for pre-1977 buses. Out of the 13,250 school buses owned by public districts, 6,000 were manufactured before 1977. Additionally, the replacement problem is exacerbated by the fact that many states do not have regulatory control over private contractors or organizations that provide transportation services or programs for children. In New York, for example, George Davis, supervisor of school transportation, estimated that half of the school bus services in the state are provided by private contractors. Currently, 8 percent of publicly owned buses in New York do not meet standard regulations, but Mr. Davis expects them to be taken off the road within a year.
The New York official expressed a desire to also address the issue with private contractors. Several state officials, as well as the NTSB, recognized that school buses, even those manufactured before the implementation of standard regulations, are still the safest mode of ground transportation, with a significantly lower fatality rate compared to automobiles. In addition to recommending the phase-out of older buses, the NTSB urged states to strengthen their drunk-driving laws. The board proposed that states should prohibit plea bargaining in such cases and eliminate the practice of reducing penalties for convicted drunk drivers who enroll in treatment programs. The driver of the truck involved in the collision with the bus in Kentucky is currently on bail, and his trial date is set for November 8 on 27 murder charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
In a separate development, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently called for public input on whether it should propose revised fuel-system safety requirements for buses, including school buses.
