Commercial bus riders, drivers must soon belt in

It’s time for commercial bus passengers in California to buckle up.

A new state law, effective in July 2018, will require drivers of commercial buses, such as Greyhound, and their passengers in the state to wear seat belts or face fines — $20 for the first violation and $50 for the next. Parents will be responsible for making sure children under age 16 are buckled up, and will be allowed to hold children under 2 on their lap.

The law goes a step further with charter buses, making the companies that operate the buses also responsible for children buckling up.

The legislation, SB20 by state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, passed both houses without opposition, and Gov. Jerry Brown signed it Sunday.

State law requires passengers in cars and school buses to wear seat belts, and a recent federal law requires some types of commercial buses to be equipped with belts. But no law requires passengers on transit or tourist buses to wear the belts, and government reports indicate the omission has serious consequences.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, accidents kill 21 bus passengers a year and injure more than 7,900. The most common cause of fatalities is rollovers, the board says, and wearing seat belts reduces the likelihood of death in rollovers by 77 percent.

In January 2016, a Greyhound bus rolled over during a rainstorm on northbound U.S. 101 in San Jose, killing two passengers and injuring 12. Only two of the 20 passengers were wearing seat belts, officers said, and neither of them was injured.

The new state law also will require bus companies to keep seat belts in working order, and to notify passengers of their obligation to wear them, by posted notices or an announcement by the driver.