Passenger Briefing Requirement for Passenger Vehicles - Petition Request

There is currently no requirement for a passenger carrier to provide a safety briefing similar to an airline briefing, prior to beginning a trip.

There was a crash on November 7th, 2023 on Interstate 70 in Ohio involving a passenger car, two property carrying CMVs and one motor coach. The crash resulted in six fatalities, three were high school students in the motor coach. This crash has renewed dialogue regarding the lack of any type of safety briefing at the beginning of a trip. It was found that during the crash none of the emergency exits that weren’t damaged due to the crash, were not utilized even when there was a fire that commenced at the rear of the bus. It is not known why the emergency exits were not utilized; however it appears that they would have been functional post-crash. When questioning family and friends that have taken recent motor coach trips, none of them were provided a safety briefing, and even though windows may have been marked, they really didn’t know what to do in case of an emergency. NTSB has advised that two previous bus crashes (Orland, CA (2014) and Stoney River, VA (1997) prompted recommendations to FMCSA to mandate safety briefings.

CVSA petition FMCSA to add regulation requiring a safety briefing, that at a minimum, covers emergency exit locations and operating instructions. This requirement would be applicable to all motor carriers operating passenger carrying vehicles that are required to be equipped with emergency exits and when all passengers board at a single location.