School Bus IndustryApplauds Passage of
School Bus Safety Week Resolution
H. Res. 498 Supports Goals of Week to Highlight Safety on the School Bus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Ed Hoover
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Ed.Hoover@bm.com

WASHINGTON - July 20, 2006 - The National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation, the National Association for Pupil Transportation and the National School Transportation Association today applauded the passage of House Resolution 498, which honors the goals and ideals of School Bus Safety Week.

"The school bus industry takes pride in supporting public and private school bus carriers throughout the United States in providing the safest form of transportation to the nation's children," said John Corr, president of the National School Transportation Association.

"Collectively, we support School Bus Safety Week and encourage any and all activities designed to improve safety," added Lenny Bernstein, president of the National Association of Pupil Transportation.

The resolution, sponsored by Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.), was adopted by the House of Representatives by a vote of 424-0.

Held each October, School Bus Safety Week was created to educate students, parents and the motoring public and enhance the safety of our nation's children transported in school buses. Celebrated throughout the United States and supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) each year, School Bus Safety Week also recognizes the hard work and dedication of school transportation professionals, especially the school bus drivers who ensure a safe journey for our children each and every day.

"The safety of our school children continues to be one of our Nation's highest priorities," said Rep. Duncan. "This resolution recognizes that, and supports every effort to make one of the safest forms of mass transportation even safer."

Industry leaders joined Rep. Duncan next to a state-of-the-art school bus in front of the Capitol this week to brief him on the latest in safety features of newer buses and pledged to work toward even more improvements to enhance safety for our school children.

School bus manufacturers, including Navistar-International, Thomas Built Buses and Blue Bird, have accomplished this incredible safety record in cooperation with NHTSA, and by forming their own National Congress on School Transportation to develop guidelines for school bus specifications. The school buses of today include warning lights and reflective devices, rollover protection, additional mirrors that allow drivers to see immediately in front of the bus, improved braking systems, multiple emergency exits, swing-out stop arms, special passenger crash protection, and extremely stringent fuel system integrity requirements that work together to make buses safer in a crash.

"Travel on a school bus is the safest form of ground transportation available, eight times safer than travel in the family car," said Pete Japikse, president of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation. "As good as that might be, when it comes to the safety of our children zero tolerance is the expectation. The importance of school bus safety, education and training cannot be emphasized enough."

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