W. Va. Code R. agency 126, tit. 126, ser. 126-089, app A
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.
W. Va. Code R. agency 126, tit. 126, ser. 126-089, app A