WASHINGTON The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expects to publish -- by the end of the first quarter of this year -- a proposed rule requiring the installation of seatbelts in motorcoaches.

The rule would apply, according to an NHTSA document, only to "newly manufactured motorcoaches" and would mandate combination lap-and-shoulder seatbelts.

An abstract of the proposed rule, contained in the NHTSA document, states the new regulation "would require the installation of lap/shoulder belts in newly-manufactured motorcoaches. Specifically, this rulemaking would establish a new definition for motorcoaches in 49 CFR Part 571.3.

"It would also amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208, "Occupant crash protection," to require the installation of lap/shoulder belts at all driver and passenger seating positions. It would also require the installation of lap/shoulder belts at driver seating positions of large school buses in FMVSS No. 208."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been actively considering passenger seatbelts for motorcoaches for more than two years. It conducted a series of crash tests, the first ever by the federal government, to study the effectiveness of various passenger restraint systems in coaches.

The agencys motorcoach program is a response, in part, to recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board for improving bus safety. NHTSA also has heard the voices of crash victims and their families, as well as critics in Congress.

Simultaneously, while NHTSA has been engaged in its testing and evaluation, bills have been introduced in Congress that would either mandate seatbelts for motorcoaches or require the NHTSA to investigate and come up with passenger restraint rules for over-the-road buses.

NHTSA also has been probing the difficult issues of bus fires, roof strength, and passenger ejections through windows during rollovers.

The federal agency began its formal seatbelt rulemaking initiative last August after its tests were completed and the results analyzed.

Since then it has been formulating a rule, which is expected to gain White House approval by the end of March. As soon as that happens it will be published and a public comment period of around 60 days is expected to follow.

When implementation would begin is apparently not yet on the agencys radar screen.

And, it ought to be noted, no one should plan their life around projections in a federal rulemaking calendar. Deadlines seldom, if ever, are met.