Denial of Petition for Rulemaking; Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Hydraulic and Electric Brake Systems, Air Brake Systems

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Schmitty and Sons School Buses (Schmitty) submitted a petition for rulemaking requesting the agency amend the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards on brake systems to require that school buses with automatic transmissions that do not have a "park" position be equipped with a parking brake warning system that activates when the school bus engine is turned off, the transmission is in neutral, and the parking brake has not been applied. Based on its concern that these school buses could begin to roll while unattended if the parking brake were not engaged, the petitioner argued that such a warning system could reduce or eliminate this hazard. We are denying the petition. Information available to the agency indicates that unattended school bus rollaways are very rare. Further, the agency believes that a warning would not likely be effective and that any risks of such incidents can best be reduced or controlled through driver training.