ChurchSafety

See also: Assessment: Are We Ready for Our Next Youth Trip?  

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It's literally a life-and-death subject. Let the facts about 15-passenger vans inform your decisions.

"Every time I see one I just say a prayer for the people inside," said the mother of a child who was killed in a church van rollover, commenting on her feelings when she sees a 15-passenger van. Many churches own 15-passenger vans, and most are used exclusively to transport people on church approved trips. But what few church leaders are aware of is that these vans are designed to transport cargo, not people, and that they lack the many safety features required of school buses.

The federal government estimates that there are 500,000 of them presently in use. They are everywhere, and the reason is simple: they are relatively cheap and they carry a lot of people.

Many churches own one or more of these vans, and use them for multiple purposes, including the transportation of minors to local or out-of-town church activities, the transportation of adults to church services, or even the transportation of children to church-operated preschools or "after school" programs.

However, the safety of 15-passenger vans was questioned in a 2001 safety advisory issued by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). The advisory warned that the "rollover" rate of 15-passenger vans increases nearly seven times when they are driven with more than 15 occupants. The rollover rate is three times greater for 15-passenger vans with 10 or more occupants than for vans with less than 10 occupants. The NHTSA has taken the unprecedented step of reissuing this safety advisory on three occasions, and has released a pamphlet describing the risks of using 15-passenger vans.

For many reasons, including the following:

• 15-passenger vans were originally designed as cargo vehicles with no seating. The seats were installed as an afterthought, but nothing was done to reinforce the structure or upgrade the glass.
  
  
• 15-passenger vans were originally designed as cargo vehicles with no seating. Seats were installed as an afterthought, but nothing was done to reinforce the structure or upgrade the glass in these vehicles. Because of this they do not comply with many of the basic safety requirements that apply to passenger cars or the stricter federal requirements that apply to school buses. For example, 15-passenger vans do not have flashing lights or "stop arms" that are required for school buses, and they have fewer emergency exits (the back door is blocked by the back seat in many vans).
  
  

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Are We Ready for Our Next Youth Trip?

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