The School Bus Safety Act of 2025 mandates new safety standards for school buses, including 3-point seatbelts, fire suppression systems, automatic emergency braking, and pedestrian detection systems, while also establishing a grant program to help states implement these upgrades.
Steve Cohen
Representative
TN-9
The School Bus Safety Act of 2025 mandates comprehensive safety upgrades for school buses, including 3-point safety belts, fire suppression systems, improved firewalls, and automatic emergency braking. It also requires enhanced training for school bus operators and studies on motion-activated detection systems and safety belt alerts. Finally, it establishes a grant program to help local educational agencies implement these safety measures.
School Bus Safety Act of 2025: 3-Point Belts, Fire Suppression, and More Coming to a Bus Stop Near You
The "School Bus Safety Act of 2025" is all about making the ride to and from school safer for kids. It mandates a bunch of upgrades to school buses nationwide, aiming to prevent accidents and better protect kids if one happens.
Buckle Up, It's the Law
This bill makes 3-point seat belts (the kind you have in your car) mandatory on all new school buses bigger than 10,000 pounds. Think of it like this: your kid gets the same kind of protection on the bus as they do in the family car. This requirement kicks in one year after the final rules are issued, which the Secretary of Transportation has one year to produce (SEC. 3).
Fire Safety Gets a Boost
Ever worry about those news stories of school bus fires? This bill tackles that head-on. It requires fire suppression systems in all new buses, specifically targeting engine fires (SEC. 3). Plus, it strengthens firewalls, especially in buses with those extended engines, to keep fumes and flames away from kids (SEC. 3). They're even upping the standards for interior materials to be as fire-resistant as those in airplanes and trains (SEC. 3).
Tech Takes the Wheel (Sort Of)
This isn't just about seatbelts and fire extinguishers. The bill also requires new school buses to have automatic emergency braking systems. These systems detect potential collisions and slam on the brakes if the driver doesn't react fast enough (SEC. 2). New buses will also need electronic stability control, which helps prevent rollovers, and event data recorders (black boxes) to help figure out what happened after a crash (SEC. 3).
Better Trained Drivers, Too
The bill isn't just about the buses themselves; it's about the people driving them. It requires all school bus operators to have at least 8 hours of behind-the-wheel training with a certified instructor on public roads (SEC. 3). Plus, it tackles sleep apnea, requiring rules for screening safety-sensitive personnel (like bus drivers) for this condition that can cause daytime drowsiness (SEC. 3).
Paying for Progress
All these upgrades cost money, right? That's where the grant program comes in (SEC. 5). The bill sets up a system for the Secretary of Transportation to give grants to states, which then help local school districts buy new, safer buses or retrofit older ones with 3-point belts and other required safety features (SEC. 5). The bill authorizes funding, but doesn't set a specific dollar amount.
Looking Ahead
The bill also orders a couple of studies to explore even more safety tech. One looks at motion-activated systems that can detect pedestrians or cyclists near the bus and alert the driver (SEC. 4). The other examines systems that would alert the driver if a passenger isn't buckled up (SEC. 4). These studies have a two-year deadline, with rules for implementation to follow within a year after each study is completed.