Braley announces bus safety bill

Days before the third anniversary of the death of Kadyn Halverson, the Kensett 7-year-old who died after a car hit her when the driver failed to stop for a school bus, on Wednesday Rep. Bruce Braley announced plans to introduce what he called 'the most comprehensive school bus safety effort in 15 years.”

Named the School Bus Safety Act, the legislation, outlined in a document from Braley's office, includes five components:

• Title I: Mandating harsher punishments, in line with Iowa's under Kadyn's Law, for drivers in all states who unlawfully pass stopped school buses.

• Title II: Establishing a U.S. Department of Transportation grant program for states to provide dollars for school districts to place motion sensors on buses' exteriors.

• Title III: Requiring states to perform background checks when hiring all school-bus drivers.

• Title IV: Creating financial support for states where officials agree to retrofit existing school buses with seat belts or purchase new vehicles that already have seat belts.

• Title V: A three-year National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study on the success of initiatives and potential innovations designed to get buses to stop for school buses.

• The act calls for funding the grant programs for motion sensors and seat belts by enacting penalties that withhold 10 percent of highway dollars each for states that do not comply with Title I or Title III in the bill by October 1, 2015. Iowa already has legislation in like with Title III.

• 'I want to make sure every possible tool is available to keep all school children safe,” Braley said during a conference call with journalists Wednesday morning. 'We know from data collected from national transportation safety advocates that the problem is widespread and it's an important priority we need to protect.”

• Comments: (319) 398-8273 or meryn.fluker@sourcemedia.net