[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 26, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4443-S4444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE:
  S. 717. A bill to require increased safety testing of 15-passenger 
vans, ensure the compliance of 15-passenger vans used as schoolbuses 
with motor vehicle safety standards applicable to schoolbuses, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
designed to enhance the safety of large passenger vans, which are 
highly susceptible to rollovers and have been associated with more than 
500 fatalities since 1990.
  It was under the most tragic circumstances that this issue came to my 
State's attention last year. On September 12th, 2002, 14 migrant 
forestry workers were killed when their 15-passenger van rolled off a 
bridge over the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in northern Maine. The 
sole survivor of this catastrophe escaped when he kicked out the rear 
window of the sinking van in what was the single worst motor vehicle 
accident in Maine's history.
  I quickly learned that this was the latest in a long line of deadly 
crashes involving the popular vans, which were initially designed to 
carry cargo rather than passengers and are highly prone to rollovers, 
especially when fully loaded. There are more than 500,000 of these vans 
on the road today, and they are frequently used for a wide variety of 
purposes, from van pools and church outings, to transportation to and 
from airports, to transporting college athletics teams or workers.
  In response to the spate of fatal accidents involving the vans in the 
past few years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 
NHTSA, conducted a study in 2001 to analyze the vans' propensity to 
rollover. In May 2001, after concluding the study, NHTSA issued a 
national warning to users of such vehicles that they have an increased 
risk of rollovers under certain conditions. They issued a similar 
warning in April 2002. The results of the NHTSA study are dramatic, 
finding that rollover risks rise sharply as the number of van occupants 
increases. With 10 or more occupants, the rollover rate is nearly three 
times the rate of vans that are lightly loaded. And with more than 15 
occupants, the risk of a rollover is almost six times greater than if 
the van only has five occupants.
  Following up on NHTSA's work, and as the deadly march of van 
accidents continued, last year both the National Transportation Safety 
Board, NTSB, and the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen issued a 
number of safety recommendations on the issue. Given the increasing use 
of 15-passenger vans in transporting larger groups, I believe it is 
time to move beyond warnings and for Congress to take action to address 
the safety of these vans.
  The bill I am introducing today would require NHTSA to include 15-
passenger vans in their dynamic rollover testing program. While NHTSA 
is currently developing this program, as mandated by The Transportation 
Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation, TREAD, Act of 
2000, it does not include 15-passenger vans. Given the demonstrated 
propensity of these vans to roll, and the deadly effects of a rollover 
in fully loaded passenger vans, it is vital that we subject them to the 
same safety standards that NHTSA plans to apply to passenger cars and 
sport utility vehicles, SUVs.
  My bill would also require NHTSA to include 15-passenger vans in 
their New Car Assessment Program, NCAP, rollover resistance ratings, 
and to test them at various load conditions. The

[[Page S4444]]

NCAP, which provides consumers with a measure of the relative safety 
potential of vehicles in frontal crashes, was expanded recently to 
include the rollover risk of passenger cars and light trucks. However, 
the expansion does not extend to vehicles that carry more than 10 
passengers. I believe that before churches or colleges or employers 
purchase one of these vans, they should have access to NCAP information 
about their rollover propensity relative to other vehicles.
  In addition, the bill requires NHTSA to work with van manufacturers 
to evaluate and test the potential of technological systems to help 
drivers in maintaining control of the vans. Specifically, NHTSA would 
look at electronic stability control, ESC, systems that some high-end 
SUVs are already equipped with and rear-view mirror-based rollover 
warning systems. ESC systems are computer-controlled systems that 
attempt to stabilize the vehicle by monitoring a vehicle's movement and 
the direction the driver is steering. I am also aware of rollover 
warning systems under development, attachable to the rear-view mirror, 
that will warn a driver if his speed or driving maneuvers risk a 
rollover. In short, technology can help us to greatly reduce the 
tendency of these vans to roll, and in the process save lives.
  These vans are also in widespread use for commercial purposes like 
airport shuttles and vanpools. Therefore, my legislation would require 
the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, FMCSA, to finish their 
rulemaking on the application of federal motor carrier safety 
regulations to 15 passenger vans used for commercial purposes. Both the 
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, TEA-21, and the Motor 
Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 directed FMCSA to promulgate 
regulations on the commercial use of the vans. While they initiated 
rulemaking in 1999, to date, FMCSA applies no operating regulations 
whatsoever to these vans.
  Finally, this bill addresses the use of 15-passenger vans to 
transport schoolchildren. Under current law, schools are prohibited 
from purchasing these vans new to transport schoolchildren because they 
do not meet the same safety standards as schoolbuses do. However, 
counter-intuitively, Federal law is silent about the purchase of used 
vans, or the use of rental vans.
  My bill addresses this loophole by incorporating language introduced 
during the 107th Congress by Representative Mark Udall of Colorado to 
extend the ban from the sale of vans to leasing, renting and buying of 
vans. This is intended to make the buyers accountable as well as the 
seller. At a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing, I asked NHTSA 
Administrator Jeffrey Runge about this disparity in current law, and he 
agreed that when we're talking about transporting schoolchildren, 
what's good for new vans should be good for used and rented vans.
  Also, to make it worth NHTSA's while to pursue violators, my bill 
would raise the maximum penalty for violations of the prohibition on 
the sale or rental of these vans to schools from $5,000 to $25,000.
  I truly believe that this legislation will cut down on the number of 
fatal accidents involving 15-passenger vans by subjecting them to 
federal rollover standards, providing consumers with adequate safety 
information and making sure that our schoolchildren are driven to 
school in safe vehicles. I urge my colleagues to join me in a strong 
show of support for this effort.
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