California Governor Signs Bus Safety Bill
Gov Brown Signs Three Bus Safety Bills After Serious Bus Accidents
Governor Jerry Brown has signed two new bills to improve safety regulations for charter buses in California following serious bus accidents in the state.
The first bill will require charter buses that are designed to carry 39 or more passengers and are made after 2020 to be equipped with emergency lights that activate automatically after a collision.
This measure, which also requires drivers to provide video or written instructions to passengers on the use of the vehicle’s safety equipment before a trip, comes after a charter bus accident that killed ten people 2 years ago. The charter bus, which was carrying Los Angeles students to visit Humboldt State University in Northern California for a tour, struck a FedEx truck that crossed into oncoming traffic. Five students, two drivers, and three chaperons were killed in the collision. If you have been injured in a bus accident then you need a bus accident attorney of Los Angeles, call us today.
The bill was sponsored by Senator Ricardo Lara, who said, “We cannot stop accidents from happening, but we can help reduce tragedy and with the governor’s signature, that’s what we’ll do.”
Brown also signed another bus safety bill that came in response to an accident in November 2015 in which 19 were hurt after a City Sightseeing bus hit construction scaffolding in San Francisco. This law will require California Highway Patrol (CHP) develop protocols for helping counties and cities in California increase the number of tour bus inspections under their jurisdictions.
The third bill signed into law comes after a special needs student was killed in Whittier after he was left in a hot school bus that was parked with the windows closed at the end of the bus driver’s route.
The law will require youth buses, school buses, and child car vehicles to be equipped with alert systems that require drivers manually scan or disarm the alarm at the back of the bus before leaving the vehicle.
