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Sen. Brown [D-OH]: Mr. President, today the National Transportation Safety Board presented its final report on the Atlanta motorcoach accident involving the Bluffton University baseball...

Record Text

MOTORCOACH SAFETY -- (Senate - July 08, 2008)<p><center><pre>[Page: S. 6429]

Sen. Sherrod Brown [D-OH]: Mr. President, today the National Transportation Safety Board presented its final report on the Atlanta motorcoach accident involving the Bluffton University baseball team last March.

The crash resulted in the deaths of five players on that team: Tyler Williams, Cody Holp, Scott Harmon, Zack Arend, and David Joseph Betts. The driver, Jerome Niemeyer, and his wife Jean were also killed in the crash. Many of the other passengers--33 in all--were treated for injuries.

For the families of those who lost loved ones and the families whose sons survived but now struggle with the aftermath, today has been highly anticipated.

Only hours after news of the accident hit home, these families pledged to improve safety measures on motorcoaches so that preventable--preventable--fatalities would not occur in the future.

For John Betts, who lost his son David in the crash, it was important to take the accident and make it into something positive in honor of his son and the other bright, talented young men who died that morning. Motorcoach safety became his crusade.

I spoke to Mr. and Mrs. Betts today and their son and daughter and talked to other parents of survivors and one who had died, and I think about their courage and their commitment and their passion to do this in the names of their sons, to fight for motorcoach safety so this tragedy does not befall other families. The Betts family sees upgrading the safety laws for motorcoaches as an opportunity to save the lives of future riders. Mr. Betts sees it also as a way to memorialize David and his teammates and, as he puts it, to make the world they lived in better than it was when they left it.

The Motorcoach Safety Enhancement Act, which I introduced last November along with Senator Hutchison from Texas, would address the shortfall in safety regulations for motorcoaches.

Today's final report echoes the recommendations the NTSB has been publishing for years and aligns itself with the safety improvements incorporated into our legislation. Specifically, the National Transportation Safety Board underscored major safety shortfalls that the Motorcoach Safety Enhancement Act addresses, such as development of a motorcoach occupant protection system, improved passenger safety standards, enhanced safety equipment and devices, and required onboard recorders with the capability to collect crash data.

Many of the injuries sustained in motorcoaches could be prevented by incorporating high-quality safety technologies that exist today but are not widely used, such as crush-proof roofing and glazed windows to prevent ejection. More basic safety features, such as readily accessible fire extinguishers and seatbelts--simple seatbelts--for all passengers, are still not required on motorcoaches. As a father of four, I find it particularly disturbing to know students are still riding in vehicles without even the option of buckling up. Seatbelts, window glazing, fire extinguishers--these are not new technologies. These are commonsense safety features that are widely used. Yet mandating them, as recommended by the NTSB, has been languishing for years.

The Motorcoach Safety Enhancement Act would instruct the Secretary of Transportation to enact these and other safety features and to establish a timeframe so these safety requirements do not spend any more time in limbo.

Sadly, the Bluffton University baseball team's fatal accident was not unique. We have witnessed story after story about motorcoach accidents. One happened in Texas, which precipitated Senator Hutchison's involvement in this effort. This bill takes the lessons learned from the tragic events of the Bluffton University baseball team's motorcoach accident and aims to correct them for future riders.

It is my hope that in the future parents will not have to endure the anguish and the grief that the Betts family members experienced and the family members of Tyler Williams and Cody Holp and Scott Harmon and Zack Arend and, as I said, the Betts family. I applaud the Betts family and the other Bluffton University parents for their courageous fight, for their persistence, and for their dedication to improving motorcoach safety in the midst of so much personal pain. Those families are truly remarkable.

I urge this body to swiftly pass the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act.

Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Chair: The clerk will call the roll.

Chair: The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

Sen. Harry Reid [D-NV]: Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Chair: Without objection, it is so ordered.