West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 126 - Education › Title 126 - LEGISLATIVE RULE BOARD OF EDUCATION › Series 126-089 - West Virginia Minimum Requirements for Design and Equipment of School Buses (4334) › Appendix A - HIGHWAY SAFETY PROGRAM STANDARD NO. 17

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
Pupil Transportation Safety
I. SCOPE
This standard establishes minimum requirements for a state
				  highway safety program for pupil transportation safety; including the
				  identification, operation, and maintenance of school buses; training of
				  personnel; and administration.
II. PURPOSE
The purpose of this standard is to reduce, to the greatest
				  extent possible, the danger of death or injury to school children while they
				  are being transported to and from school.
III. DEFINITIONS
"Type 1 school vehicle" means any motor vehicle with motive
				  power, except a trailer, used to carry more than 16 pupils to and from school.
				  This definition includes vehicles that are at any time used to carry school
				  children and school personnel exclusively, and does not include vehicles that
				  only carry school children along with other passengers as part of the
				  operations of a common carrier.
"Type 2 school vehicle" means any motor vehicle used to carry
				  16 or less pupils to or from school. This does not include private motor
				  vehicles used to carry members of the owner's household.
IV. REQUIREMENTS
Each state, in cooperation with its school districts and its
				  political subdivisions, shall have a comprehensive pupil transportation safety
				  program to assure that school vehicles are operated and maintained so as to
				  achieve the highest possible level of safety.
V. ADMINISTRATION
A. There shall be a single state agency having primary
				  administrative responsibility for pupil transportation, and employing at least
				  one full-time professional to carry out its responsibilities for pupil
				  transportation.
B. The responsible state agency shall develop an operating
				  system for collecting and reporting information needed to improve the safety of
				  school vehicle operation, in accordance with Safety Program Standard No. 10,
				  "Traffic Records," ' 204.4.
Identification
Each state shall establish and maintain compliance with the
				  following requirements for identification and equipment of school vehicles. The
				  use of stop arms is at the option of the state.
A. Type 1 school vehicles shall:
1. be identified with the words "SCHOOL BUS" printed in
				  letters not less than 8" high, located between the warning lamps as high as
				  possible without impairing visibility of the lettering from both front and rear
				  of the vehicle;
2. be painted National School Bus Glossy Yellow, in
				  accordance with the colorimetric specifications of Federal Standard No. 595a,
				  Color 13432, except that the hood shall be either that color or lusterless
				  black, matching Federal Standard No. 595a, Color 37038;
3. have bumpers of glossy black, matching Federal Standard
				  No. 595a, Color 17038; unless, for increased night visibility, they are covered
				  with a retroflective material;
4. be equipped with a system of signal lamps that conforms to
				  the school bus requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108, 49
				  CFR 571.21; and
5. have a system of mirrors that will give the seated
				  operator a view of the roadway to each side of the bus, and of the area
				  immediately in front of the front bumper, in accordance with the following
				  procedure: When a rod, 20" long, is placed upright on the ground at any point
				  along a traverse line 1 foot forward of the forward-most point of a school bus,
				  and extending the width of the bus, at least 7 2@ of the length of the rod
				  shall be visible to the operator, either by direct view or by means of an
				  indirect visibility system.
B. Any school vehicle meeting the identification requirements
				  of A. 1-4 (above) that is permanently converted for use wholly for purposes
				  other than transporting pupils to or from school shall be painted a color other
				  than National School Bus Glossy Yellow, and shall have the stop arms and
				  equipment required by section A. 1-4 (above) removed.
C. Type 1 school vehicles operated on a public highway and
				  transporting primarily passengers other than school pupils shall have the words
				  "SCHOOL BUS" covered, removed, or otherwise concealed, and the stop arms and
				  equipment required by section A. 4 (above) shall not be operable through the
				  usual controls.
D. Type 2 school vehicles shall either:
1. Comply with all the requirements for Type 1 school
				  vehicles; or
2. Be of a color other than National School Bus Glossy
				  Yellow, have none of the equipment specified (Identification - A. 4) and not
				  have the words "SCHOOL BUS" in any location on the exterior of the vehicle, or
				  in any interior location visible to a motorist.
The state shall establish conditions under which one or the
				  other of the above two specifications for Type 2 vehicles shall apply.
Operation
Each state shall establish and maintain compliance with the
				  following requirements for operating school vehicles:
A. Personnel
1. Each state shall develop a plan for selecting, training,
				  and supervising persons whose primary duties involve transporting school
				  pupils, in order to assure that such persons will attain a high degree of
				  competence in, and knowledge of, their duties.
2. Every person who drives a Type 1 or Type 2 school vehicle
				  occupied by school pupils shall, as a minimum:
a. has a valid state operator's license to operate such a
				  vehicle(s);
b. meet all special physical, mental, and moral requirements
				  established by the state agency having primary responsibility for pupil
				  transportation; and
c. be qualified as an operator under the Motor Carrier Safety
				  Regulations of the Federal Highway Administration 49 CFR 391, if he or her
				  employer is subject to those regulations.
B. Pupil Instruction
At least twice during each school year, each pupil who is
				  transported in a school vehicle shall be instructed in safe riding practices,
				  and participate in emergency evacuation drills.
C. Vehicle Operation
1. Each state shall develop plans for minimizing highway use
				  hazards to school vehicle occupants, other highway users, pedestrians, and
				  property, including but not limited to:
a. careful planning an annual review of routes for safety
				  hazards;
b. planning routes to assure maximum use of buses, and avoid
				  standees;
c. providing loading and unloading zones off the main
				  traveled part of the highway, wherever it is practicable to do so;
d. establishing restricted loading and unloading areas for
				  school buses at, or near schools;
e. requiring the operator of a vehicle meeting or overtaking
				  a school bus that is stopped on a highway to take on or discharge pupils, and
				  on which the red warning signals specified (Identification - A. 4) are in
				  operation, to stop his vehicle before it reaches the school bus and not proceed
				  until the warning signals are deactivated; and
f. prohibiting, by legislation or regulation, operation of
				  any vehicle displaying the words "SCHOOL BUS," unless it meets the equipment
				  and identification requirements of this standard.
2. Use of flashing warning signal lamps while loading or
				  unloading pupils shall be at the option of the state. Use of red warning signal
				  lamps for any other purpose, and at any time other than when the school vehicle
				  is stopped to load or discharge passengers shall be prohibited.
3. When vehicles are equipped with stop arms, such devices
				  shall be operated only in conjunction with red signal lamps.
4. Seating
a. Seating shall be provided that will permit each occupant
				  to sit in a seat in a plan view lateral location, intended by the manufacturers
				  to provide seating accommodation for a person at least as large as a 5th
				  percentile adult female, as defined in 49 CFR 57.3.
b. Bus routing and seating plans shall be coordinated so as
				  to eliminate standees when a school vehicle is in motion.
c. There shall be no auxiliary seating accommodations such as
				  temporary or folding jump seats in school vehicles.
d. Operators of school buses equipped with lap belts shall be
				  required to wear them whenever the vehicle is in motion.
e. Passengers in Type 2 school vehicles equipped with lap
				  belts shall be required to wear them whenever the vehicle is in motion.
Vehicle Maintenance
Each state shall establish and maintain compliance with the
				  following requirements for vehicle maintenance:
A. School vehicles shall be maintained in safe operating
				  conditions through a systematic preventive maintenance program.
B. All school vehicles shall be inspected at least
				  semiannually, in accordance with Highway Safety Program manual Vol. 1,
				  published by the U. S. Department of Transportation January 1969. School
				  vehicles subject to the Motor Carrier Safety Regulations of the Federal Highway
				  Administration shall be inspected and maintained in accordance with those
				  regulations (49 CFR Parts 393 and 396).
C. School vehicle operators shall be required to perform
				  daily pretrip inspections of their vehicles, and to report promptly and in
				  writing any defects or deficiencies discovered that may affect the safety of
				  the vehicle's operation or result in its mechanical breakdown. Pretrip
				  inspection and condition reports for school vehicles subject to the Motor
				  Carrier Safety Regulations of the Federal Highway Administration shall be
				  performed in accordance with those regulations (
				  49 CFR
				  392.7,
				  392.8,
				  and
				  396.7
				  ).
V. PROGRAM EVALUATION
The pupil transportation safety program shall be evaluated at
				  least annually by the state agency having primary administrative responsibility
				  for pupil transportation. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
				  shall be furnished a summary of each evaluation.