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DOT proposes new regulation to protect motor coach, bus passengers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed Wednesday a new federal motor vehicle safety standard to protect motor coach and other large bus passengers in rollover crashes. 
 
The proposal aims to improve the structural design of large buses to ensure that passengers are better protected in a deadly vehicle rollover by ensuring that the space around them remains sufficiently intact and the emergency exits remain operable.
 
"The consequences for passengers in rollover crashes are severe," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "I want passengers to know that when this department sees opportunities to make their travel safer so that they can more confidently visit their families or get to work, we are going to do just that and we believe this proposal is a step in that direction."
 
The proposed standard would establish performance requirements that each new motor coach and large bus must meet when subjected to a dynamic test in which the bus is tipped over from a raised platform onto a hard level surface. The proposed standard would require space around occupant seating positions to be maintained to afford occupants a survivable space in a crash; require the seats, overhead luggage racks, and window glazing to remain attached to their mountings during and after the test; and require emergency exits to remain closed during the rollover test and operable after the test.