Two U.S. senators, motivated by a bus crash that killed five college baseball players, announced a proposal Thursday that would require seat belts on long-haul buses.
The proposed legislation also would require changes to bus windows that would help stop passengers from being thrown out of the vehicles during accidents.
Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, also want better training for drivers and stronger bus roofs that will hold up in rollover accidents. They said the legislation would reduce deaths and injuries in bus accidents.
They announced their proposal nearly eight months after a bus carrying Bluffton University’s baseball team toppled off an overpass in Atlanta. Five players, the bus driver and his wife died.
Some of the players killed and those who were injured were thrown out of the bus and pinned underneath it. The bus did not have not seat belts.
The proposal applies to motorcoaches that travel from state to state, not city buses or school buses. (AP)
