One expects Ohio's Democratic U.S. senator, Sherrod Brown, to push for more government regulations. He campaigned on his belief in the government solving all our problems. It would be nice, however, if Brown would refrain from exploiting tragedy no regulation could have prevented to promote his belief in the Nanny State.

Brown and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, ... introduced a bill that they say would increase motorcoach safety. In reality, the impact would be insignificant to safety.

The bill certainly would increase costs, as all regulation does, but it wouldn't guarantee riders are going to survive a crash such as the one the Bluffton University baseball team experienced.

Yet Brown decided the Bluffton University baseball team's bus crash in Atlanta earlier this year was the appropriate tragedy to use in promoting his and Baileys bill.

"In the wake of the Bluffton bus crash, one thing is clear - we need stronger safety regulations," Brown said in a news release announcing the bill. "This bill takes the lessons learned from the tragic events of the Bluffton University baseball team's motorcoach accidents, and aims to correct them for future riders. It will ensure that motorcoaches are built, equipped and operated to be as safe as possible."

Hutchison had her own bus tragedy to tie emotion to a greater hand for government.

The bill would require a variety of safety features, such as seat belts, anti-ejection glazing on windows, crash-resistant roofs and improved driver training.

But the Bluffton bus crash happened when the driver mistook an exit ramp for a continuation of the interstate. The bill doesn't address such mistakes, and couldn't.

Six people died in the accident and a seventh died later as a result of it. Short of the hand of God, it's hard to know what would have protected those seven people once the bus went over the side of the overpass.

Brown and Hutchison can't legislate an end to drivers making such a mistake. Their pretending to do so is nothing more than playing politics with tragedy.