[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 160 (Tuesday, October 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S15205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SCHOOLBUS SAFETY

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to discuss a matter 
that I have discussed on several other occasions on this floor over the 
last few months, and that is the issue of schoolbus safety in this 
country. I would like to update the Senate on the progress that we are 
making in this particular area.
  The bad news, Mr. President, is that there are still, we believe, 
over 100,000 unsafe schoolbuses on the road in this country today, 
100,000 schoolbuses that at this moment, at least in the Eastern time 
zone, the Eastern part of the country, are in the process of taking 
children home from school.
  I have been involved in, and my staff has been involved in, trying to 
alert the school officials, schoolbus safety officials, in all the 50 
States to this particular problem. And I think we are making progress 
on a number of fronts.
  First, one of the major causes, as I have talked about before on this 
floor, of schoolbus fatalities is the drawstrings that appear around 
the waist and other parts of clothing of the coats worn by many 
schoolchildren today. As children get off of schoolbuses, this 
drawstring is liable to get snagged in the gap that exists between the 
bus wall and the handrail itself.
  Since 1991, at least five children that we know of have been killed 
in this manner, have been stuck on the bus that that particular 
drawstring has caught, and they have been dragged by the bus and they 
have been killed.
  I am pleased, Mr. President, to report that the Consumer Product 
Safety Commission is taking action on this problem. Last month they 
recommended to the American Society of Testing Materials, the ASTM, 
that the drawstrings be shortened. Experts agree that this measure will 
help prevent these accidents.
  This is, Mr. President, a big step--a big step--in the right 
direction. As a result of CPSC's recommendation, the ASTM has already 
announced a voluntary standard for the drawstrings. Drawstrings that 
are 4 or 5 inches in length are now banned.
  The ASTM also announced plans for a research project to determine if 
there is any ideally safe drawstring length. The results of this study 
are to be announced on November 30.
  Second, we, as a country, are starting to fix the buses. A bus 
manufacturing company bought some of the assets of another bus company, 
a company had gone out of business, a defunct bus company that was 
purchased. And the new bus company has decided voluntarily to provide 
materials to retrofit many of the dangerous buses made by the defunct 
company. It will do this at cost. That particular company is also 
trying to identify other unsafe buses that are still on the road so 
they, too, can be retrofitted.
  Third, I have brought with me to the floor, Mr. President, a copy of 
a pamphlet that children are getting in an elementary school in my 
hometown of Cedarville, OH. This particular pamphlet gives good advice 
to parents. ``Teach your children to look out for the straps and 
drawstrings. Be very careful when you are getting on and off the 
schoolbus.''
  This was provided courtesy of the Pupil Transportation Safety 
Institute, 1-800-836-2210. It is a very simple brochure, but a brochure 
that we hope will do some good.
  Mr. President, in conclusion, I think parents all over America should 
get a pamphlet just like this. It is available from the Pupil 
Transportation Safety Institute. Let me again repeat the number, 1-800-
836-2210. As the pamphlet says, ``Schoolbus safety is a team effort.'' 
So, Mr. President, let us work together to make all these schoolbuses 
as safe as they can be.

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