Bus safety changes coming

The Lima News - As legislation aimed at making motorcoach travel safer became law Friday, John Betts fulfilled a promise he made to his son, David, and the other Bluffton University baseball players who died in the 2007 bus crash.

While it took three tries and five years, it was a promise Betts had every intention of fulfilling.

“When you identify your son in a morgue, and then make a promise to him and to the rest of the Bluffton players, the motivation on our part was off the carts,” he said. “We had no plans on going anywhere until this was accomplished.”

The Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act, proposed by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is part of the highway bill reauthorization.

The legislation echoes National Transportation Safety Board recommendations. It will require safety belts and stronger seating systems, improved commercial driver training, anti-ejection glazing windows, strong crush-resistant roofs and improved protection against fires. It also calls for electronic onboard recorders.

“These safety measures are not complicated, they are not exotic or new. They are common sense safety features that are and have been in many cases widely used,” Brown said.

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