Bill would increase bus safety
Springfield News-Sun – SPRINGFIELD — Two senators today will introduce a bill that would require increased safety features on coach buses, measures inspired by the fatal bus crash four years ago today that killed five members of the Bluffton University baseball team, the bus driver and his wife.
The bill being introduced by Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, would require safety belts and stronger seating systems, among other measures, in motorcoaches. It would mandate stronger roofs to withstand collapse during rollovers, improved commercial driver training and on-board recorders to track the vehicle’s precise locations.
Survivors of the crash included two members of the team from Clark County, Southeastern High School graduates A.J. and Mike Ramthun. A.J. said he and his brother will be in Bluffon today. They and other teammates from 2007 were invited by their coach, James Grandey, to campus on the fourth anniversary of the crash.
