The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the agency responsible for establishing Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries that result from motor vehicle crashes.

In the legislative history of the School Bus Safety Amendments of 1974, Congress stated that school transportation should be held to the highest level of safety, since such transportation involves the nation's most precious cargo -- children who represent our future.  As a result, NHTSA believes that school buses should be as safe as possible.  Accordingly, NHTSA has established minimum safety standards that are over and above those for regular buses that all school buses must meet.  Consistent with the 1974 Congressional mandate for school bus safety, NHTSA believes that safety standards requiring higher levels of safety performance for school buses are appropriate.

Federal requirements regulate new vehicles that carry eleven or more persons that are sold for transporting students to or from school or school related events.  Those vehicles are required to meet all FMVSS for school buses.  The FMVSS applicable to school buses require that school buses have stop arms along with many other safety features over and above those of other passenger vehicles.  Under 49 U.S.C. 30101, etseq., a vehicle is regarded as being sold for use as a school bus if, at the time of sale, it is evident that the vehicle is likely to be significantly used to transport students to or from school or school related events.  This statute applies to school buses sold to public as well as parochial schools.  Thus, a dealer selling a new 15-passenger van to be used for school transportation must ensure that the van is certified as meeting our school bus FMVSS.

Federal regulations do not prohibit the use of vans by schools, but require any van (with a capacity of more than 10) sold or leased for use as a school bus to meet the safety standards applicable to school buses.  Federal regulations apply only to the manufacture and sale/lease of new vehicles.  Each State prescribes its own regulations that apply to the use of any vehicle that is used to transport students.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the federal agency that dictates which Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) have to be met by various classes of vehicles.  NHTSA does not regulate the operation of vehicles, but it does regulate the sale of vehicles.  At a minimum, NHTSA requires the following Safety Standards on any new vehicle that is sold for transporting eleven or more school age persons to or from school or school related events.  NHTSA does not distinguish between public and or private schools or public and or private organizations.

Classification: "Multi-Function School Activity Bus" (MFSAB).
Definition: This bus meets all of the FMVSS for School Buses with the exception that this bus is not required to be painted yellow and does not have flashing lights nor a stop arm.  A MFSAB can be used in any application except fixed routes where children are being dropped off at their homes and or picked up at their homes. This bus cannot be used to stop traffic.

• FMVSS 108: Requires school buses utilizing hydraulic brakes to stop in shorter distances.

• FMVSS 111: Requires the driver to be able to see either directly or through a system of mirrors located in front of and along both sides of the school bus.

• FMVSS 217: Includes requirements that specify means of readily accessible emergency egress made easier for the use of children.

• FMVSS 220: Specifies minimum strength requirements for school bus roofs to reduce the likelihood of roof collapse in a rollover.

• FMVSS 221: Specifies minimum strength requirements for body panel joints to improve the structural integrity of the passenger compartment.

• FMVSS 222: Specifies seating, restraining barriers, and impact requirements to create a compartmentalization between well-padded and well-constructed energy absorbing seats to provide occupant protection.

• FMVSS 301: Specifies requirements of the integrity and security of the entire fuel system.

NTHSA does not distinguish between buses that transport students to and from school and those that only transport students to school activities.  As far as NHTSA is concerned, if a bus transports 11 or more students it must meet the above criteria.

These FMVSS were dropped for MFSABs by NHTSA as of September 1, 2003.  It is now only required if you are doing residential pick-up and drop-off and thus will need to stop traffic on a residential road.

• FMVSS 108: Requires red and amber signal lamps, which indicate the bus is loading/unloading passengers.
• FMVSS 131: Requires a stop arm that extends on the left side of the bus to warn motorists when it is loading/unloading passengers.

For complete information on NHTSA requirements we encourage you to visit the NHTSA web site at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov.  This web site provides extensive information on a variety of subjects related to the safe transportation of school-aged children.

While a commercial driver's license is not required for vehicles with fewer than 16 seats including the driver, other requirements may need to be met for school bus drivers.

In Texas, we encourage you to contact the Texas Department of Public Safety at 254-759-7111, or visit their DPS web site at http://www.txdps.state.tx.us for more information.

In Oklahoma, we encourage you to contact the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety at 405-425-2424, or visit their DPS web site at http://www.dps.state.ok.us for more information.