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Committee hears testimony urging mandated lap‑shoulder belts on new large school buses; sponsor delays implementation year and includes driver immunity language
Summary
House Bill 134 would require lap‑shoulder seat belts on large school buses. Witnesses from the NTSB, public‑health clinics and student advocates described crash findings and personal injuries; opponents raised retrofit cost and funding concerns.
House Bill 134, sponsored by Delegate David Tavares, would require passenger lap‑shoulder seat belts on large school buses in Maryland. The committee heard proponents point to multiple National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigations finding compartmentalization alone can fail in certain crashes and rollovers, and they urged the legislature to adopt a phased approach with driver protections for compliance.
"Passenger lap‑shoulder belts provide the best protection," Kristen Poland, deputy director of the NTSB Office of Highway Safety, told the committee. Poland, a…
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