March 04, 2025

Duckworth, Cohen Renew Push to Help Improve School Bus Safety and Protect Our Kids

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (CST)— and U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) reintroduced legislation to help keep our kids safe as they travel to and from school. The School Bus Safety Act of 2025 would implement safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to make school buses safer by ensuring there are seat belts at every seat and buses are equipped with safety measures like stability control and automatic braking systems. The bill would also create a grant program to help school districts modify school buses to meet these important safety modifications.

“No parent should have to worry about the safety of their children when they get on a school bus—but school buses often lack seat belts and other basic safety equipment that every parent demands,” said Senator Duckworth. “Nothing is more important than protecting our children, which is why I’m proud to be reintroducing the School Bus Safety Act with Rep. Cohen to help prevent school bus accidents, make accidents less severe and implement other commonsense safety recommendations that will save lives.”

“There is no more precious cargo than children entrusted by their parents for a bus ride to school,” said Rep. Cohen. “The commonsense measures recommended by the NTSB and called for in this legislation will save young lives. I am pleased to reintroduce this legislation with Senator Duckworth to make school buses across the country safer while helping financially strapped school districts modify their school bus fleets to meet the new specifications. We’ve seen too many deaths and serious injuries in school bus accidents in Tennessee and elsewhere, and it is past time we act to protect young lives.”

The School Bus Safety Act would require the Department of Transportation issue rules requiring all school buses to include:

  • A 3-point safety belt, which includes a seat belt across a lap as well as a shoulder harness to help protect passengers by restraining them in case of a collision.
  • An Automatic Emergency Braking System, which helps prevent accidents and crashes by detecting objects or vehicles ahead of the bus and braking automatically.
  • An Event Data Recorder (EDR) that can record pre- and post-crash data, driver inputs, and restraint usage and when a collision does occur.
  • An Electronic Stability Control (ESC) System that will use automatic computer-controlled braking of individual wheels to assist the driver remain in control of the vehicle.
  • A Fire Suppression System, which addresses engine fires.
  • A Firewall that prohibits hazardous quantities of gas or flame to pass through the firewall from the engine compartment to the passenger compartment.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 1,082 people have died in school transportation-related crashes between 2013 and 2022, which saw a total of 976 crashes.

Full text of the legislation can be found on Senator Duckworth’s website.

Duckworth has long pushed for improving school bus safety, originally introducing this legislation in 2018 and again in 2023.

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