The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) main function is to prevent injuries, deaths, and reduce expensive costs due to traffic accidents. Their mission also includes issuing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to contribute to energy security and address climate change. According to the NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, the safety agency hopes to finalize several key regulations regarding new safety rules for buses and heavy trucks very soon. Some of the changes the NHTSA hopes to see includes:

• Improvements in bus rollover structural integrity, emergency evacuation, and fire safety which would include requiring anti- rollover technology electronic stability control on truck tractors and motor homes.
• A proposal to require higher seat backs and safety belts on all new commercial buses.
• When or if NHTSA will require automakers to install equipment in vehicles that will allow them to communicate with each other. The NHTSA could decide to require manufacturers to include equipment to support vehicle to vehicle safety applications in new cars by a future date or it could allow automakers to earn higher government safety ratings if it included the technology.

Once an agreement has been made, you can expect the newly passed rules to take affect by the end of this year.