The Law Library of Congress recently published a multi-national report on school bus safety requirements, which explores school bus safety regulations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Iceland, Mexico, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates. The report includes jurisdictions that use buses that are specifically designed for transporting school-aged children such as Canada, Mexico, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as countries that use ordinary buses or other vehicles to transport students, including Brazil, England, and Iceland.
As described in the report, most of the jurisdictions covered school bus requirements in their general vehicle legislation, whereas some jurisdictions, including China and Russia, had specific legislation for school buses. Specific safety requirements include a three-point seat belt requirement in most jurisdictions and also cover other requirements such as fire suppression systems, event data recorders, automatic emergency braking systems, and electronic control systems.
The report also touches on the number of reported accidents that involve school buses in the jurisdictions covered. However, most of the jurisdictions covered have not made this information publicly available.
This report is part of the Law Library’s Legal Reports collection, prepared by staff and foreign law specialists from the Global Legal Research Center. The collection includes over 4,000 historical and contemporary legal reports on a variety of legal subjects.
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