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Did you know that there are approximately 29,000 motorcoaches that transport hundreds of millions of passengers across this nation? Because there are roughly two-dozen deaths and nearly 8,000 injuries in bus accidents annually, activists have wanted to improve bus passenger safety for some time.
As a result, a new federal law has been passed that will take effect in November 2016, requiring new tour buses, motorcoaches and other large buses that travel between cities to be equipped with seat belts for passengers. While the changes will be several years out, having three-point lap-shoulder seat belts onboard buses should help increase passenger safety.
Sadly, there have been one too many bus passengers who have died or been seriously injured because there were no seat belts in motorcoaches. While many of these fatal bus accidents were caused due to poorly serviced buses, driver negligence, mechanical failure, or drivers who violated the hours-of-service rules, seat belts could have helped save lives—especially in rollovers.
Seat belts onboard large buses are designed to help keep bus passengers from being ejected during a rollover crash, and should increase bus passenger safety even in minor accidents. In fact, it is estimated that bus accident injuries and fatalities will decrease by half with the use of seat belts.
We encourage you to share this article so that your friends and family who travel by bus between Sarasota and Tampa or between New York and Florida will know about the changes in bus safety that is to come.
