Lebanon graduation 2012
Brookville graduation 2012
Edgewood graduation 2012
Bluffton player's dad says seat belts should be required on charter buses
Timeline | Photos, videos and more
Thursday, July 19, 2007
WASHINGTON — At least as early as 1971, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended the federal government require seat belts on motorcoaches.
But 36 years later, the federal government has yet to act upon those recommendations — a fact that John Betts believes may have cost him his son.
John Betts feels that if their were seat belts on the bus his son would maybe be alive. David Betts died in Atlanta in a bus crash along with four other members of the Bluffton University baseball team.Betts, whose son David died March 2 in a Georgia motorcoach accident that killed five members of the Bluffton University baseball team and two others, has spent the months since his son's death advocating for increased safety precautions in motorcoaches.
On top of that list: seat belts.
The federal government currently requires only the drivers on motorcoaches to wear seat belts. The belts are not required on passenger seats.
Nicole Nason, administrator for the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration — the agency with the authority to implement the NTSB recommendations — said the issue is "on our radar screen."
"We've seen some horrific fatalities (intour buses) and this is on our priority list," she said.
A NHTSA spokeswoman said the agency is conducting research with the Canadian government on how best to strengthen motorcoach safety. Separately, a House committee has held hearings on bus safety and an Ohio congressman is drafting legislation addressing the issue.
James Hall, chairman of the NTSB from 1994 to 2001, said such precautions are long overdue.
"There shouldn't be a moving vehicle in the United States without a seat belt," he said.
Betts, whose son played second base for the Bluffton Beavers and was a member of the National Honor Society while a student at Bryan High School, said others will die unless something is done to make charter buses safer.
"The question becomes one of, is this something you want to put your mother in, at 65 miles per hour and 24 tons?" he asks. "In my opinion, if it rolls over, someone is going to die."
