California Code of Regulations › Title 13 - Motor Vehicles › Division 2 - Department of the California Highway Patrol › Chapter 6.5 - Motor Carrier Safety › Article 8 - General Equipment Requirements › Section 1263.2 - Charter Party Carrier Bus Safety

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Emergency lighting fixtures. Motor
				  carriers shall not operate any bus designed to carry 39 passengers or more
				  including the driver, manufactured on or after July 1, 2020, and described in
				  Section
				  5363(1)(b)
				  of the Public Utilities Code, unless the bus is properly equipped and in
				  compliance with the following requirements:
(1) Buses shall be equipped with emergency
				  lighting fixtures that will automatically illuminate the interior of the bus in
				  the event of an impact, collision, or rollover, under all conditions of bus
				  operation and orientation, including when the bus is stationary.
(2) Emergency lighting fixtures shall be
				  permanently mounted in locations throughout the interior of the bus in a manner
				  which does not interfere with passenger ingress, egress, or comfort, including
				  egress through required emergency exits. The fixtures shall not have sharp
				  edges or protrusions which may cause injury to passengers or damage to
				  property.
(A) Interior lamps meeting the
				  requirements of Section
				  1217(h) may be
				  used, in whole or in part, to fulfill this requirement.
(3) Emergency lighting fixtures. which
				  illuminate automatically as required by subdivision (a)(5), shall remain
				  illuminated until all passengers, including the driver, have exited or been
				  evacuated from the interior of the bus.
(4) Light emitted by the emergency lighting
				  fixtures shall be sufficient to illuminate the entire interior of the bus in a
				  manner sufficient to facilitate egress of passengers in the event of an
				  emergency.
(5) Emergency lighting
				  fixtures shall automatically illuminate when the bus is involved in any
				  incident in which the bus rolls over, is impacted by any object, or is involved
				  in any collision, at any angle, when that impact or collision exerts a force of
				  greater than 5 times the force of gravity on any passenger or the driver, or
				  exceeds the equivalent of a 10 mile per hour impact of the bus versus any
				  stationary object.
(6) Emergency
				  lighting fixtures shall be electrically self-powered, powered by the bus
				  electrical system, powered by an auxiliary electrical source, or any
				  combination thereof.
(7) In
				  addition to automatic illumination requirements, emergency lights may be
				  illuminated manually by the driver or any person within the driver's
				  compartment. Notwithstanding manual illumination, if the bus is involved in any
				  incident outlined in subdivision (a)(5), the lights shall illuminate
				  automatically and remain illuminated without manual intervention.
(8) Emergency lighting fixtures and their
				  installation shall meet, and may not be in conflict with, any applicable
				  Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, in effect at the time of the emergency
				  lighting fixture installation.