ASSEMBLY, No. 1924

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED MAY 6, 1996

By Assemblymen BATEMAN and DeCROCE

An Act concerning school bus grab handles and supplementing P.L.1965, c.119 (C.39:3B-1 et seq.).

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. As part of its periodic inspection of school buses, the Division of Motor Vehicles shall determine whether the grab handle required under regulations promulgated by the Department of Education is properly installed and meets all applicable safety standards. When any defect or failure to meet a safety standard is determined to exist, the division shall order the bus removed from service until corrective action is taken and the bus is reinspected.

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the transportation of children in school buses whose front-door grab handles are defectively designed. The term "grab handle" refers to a bar installed alongside the front-door steps of a school bus to assist children in boarding or exiting the bus. Certain school buses have been equipped by their manufacturers with grab handles that have a crevice between the tapered end and the wall to which it is attached. Several children have been killed or seriously injured when strings attached to their clothing or backpacks were caught in this crevice as they exited the bus. The bus drivers, unaware that the children were caught, pulled away from a stop, dragging the children beneath the moving buses.

    In school buses equipped with a defectively designed grab handle, the installation of a rubber washer eliminates this "catching" hazard. The design defect can be repaired in 30 minutes at a cost of approximately $10.

    Under this bill, DMV inspectors must check the grab handle to see if it is defectively designed. If the grab handle is defective, the bus is immediately removed from service until it is repaired and reinspected. Currently, DMV inspection procedures allow bus owners 30 days within which to repair defective grab handles before the bus is taken out of service.