Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - March 09, 2009)

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By Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mrs. HUTCHISON):

S. 554. A bill to improve the safety of motorcoaches, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, last week was the two year anniversary of a horrific motorcoach crash involving the Bluffton University baseball team. Seven Ohioans--Tyler Williams, Cody Holp, Scott Harmon, Zack Arend, David Joseph Betts, and Jerome and Jean Niemeyer--lost their lives that day.

As their bus rolled along Interstate-75 on March 2, 2007, the Bluffton players and coaches were hours away from beginning their spring break in Florida. But as the team slept in preparation for their season opener later in the week, their motorcoach crashed through a retaining wall and fell thirty feet to the highway below.

Since then I have talked with family members of the players on the bus that day and other passenger safety advocates, and time and again the conversations came back to one thing: we need commonsense motorcoach safety measures that will protect both passengers and other motorists on the road.

In the 110th Congress, Senator HUTCHISON and I introduced the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act to finally require basic safety devices like seat belts and stronger windows on motorcoaches.

Bus trips should not turn into tragedies, and that is why today we are again introducing the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act of 2009. We need these new standards now to ensure the safety of every rider and driver on the road.

In 2007, the American Bus Association reported that over 750 million passenger trips covering more than 60 billion miles were made by motorcoaches in the United States.

More and more people are choosing buses for their transportation, and it seems every week you read about another serious motorcoach accident ..... the crash involving a minor-league hockey team from Albany, New York; the fatal motorcoach accidents in Texas; the tour bus crash in Arizona that killed 7 passengers. The number of serious accidents and tragic deaths will only grow if we do not take action.

Our legislation directs the Secretary of the Department of Transportation to implement numerous safety regulations already recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board. Incredibly, many of these recommendations--including seatbelts, fire extinguishers, increased driver training, and stronger windows--have languished for years.

Our bill places firm timelines on the development and implementation of these rules and does so in a manner consistent with the recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board--the guardian of our Nation's travel safety.

This includes safety belts and stronger seating systems to ensure occupants stay in their seats in a crash.

Stronger and better glazing on windows to prevent passengers from being easily ejected out of the motorcoach, crush-resistant roofs that can better withstand rollovers, improved protection against fires by reducing flammability of the motorcoach interior, and better training for operators in the case of fire.

John Betts' son David was a second baseman on the Bluffton baseball team and was on the bus when it crashed in Atlanta 2 years ago. Mr. Betts lost his son in that tragic accident, but has since been a tireless advocate for motorcoach safety reform.

In testimony before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security, Mr. Betts said:

Motorcoach transportation may be one of the safest modes when you look at statistics of lives lost per miles traveled compared to other modes of transportation. However, as family members here today representing those who had a loved one die in such a crash, our first response is that such statistics are not comforting. As a father, am I to disregard David's death as his being one of the unlucky few? As NTSB recommendations languish here in the United States, Europe and Australia have already required basic occupant safety protection measures such as seat belts.

Mr. Betts eloquent words challenge Congress to take action so that other Americans do not tragically, needlessly, lose their lives, and it is my hope that we will swiftly pass this long overdue bill.

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