BEAUMONT, Texas A group of Texas parents whose children were involved in a charter bus crash early last year that killed two high school students and injured 21 others says it's making headway in a campaign to make motorcoaches safer for children.

Now, the West Brook Bus Crash Families is urging the motorcoach industry to get involved, too.

The parents, who convinced state lawmakers this past spring to enact seat belt requirements for buses that carry school children, and their school district to no longer use charter buses, are calling on motorcoach operators to make seatbelts standard equipment on their coaches.

"They're required in Europe and it is inconceivable that they are not required in the United States," says group spokesman Steve Foreman. "We want to see the industry address this issue."

In addition to passenger restraints, he said the group also favors coaches with stronger roofs to protect passengers in a rollover, and glazed or safety windows that would not shatter or pop out during an accident.

The motorcoach industry has long held that before seatbelts are mandated by the government, crash testing and research needs to be conducted to determine if such restraints would be safer for passengers or if other types of passenger protection systems might work better.

Such studies are expected to be conducted soon by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration under a blue print for motorcoach safety the agency issued last month. (See story on Page 1.)

Foreman praised the report, saying those in his group expect it to be helpful in advancing bus safety.

The parent group, which is affiliated with the Texas chapter of the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, was formed in 2006 after a motorcoach carrying 23 members of the West Brook High School girl's soccer team swerved to avoid road debris, skidded out of control and tipped onto its side. Many of the girls were thrown from the bus, including at least two who were pinned beneath the overturned coach.

"We don't want others to go through what our children and families have had to go through," said Foreman.

Texas lawmakers earlier this year bought into the notion that seat belts can help protect bus riders by approving legislation requiring them to be on all school buses by 2010 and on all charter buses that transport children by 2011.

However, the legislature failed to identify funding to pay for the requirement for belts on school buses. (See June 1 Bus & Motorcoach News.)

In addition, the school district in Beaumont banned the use of motorcoaches for future school trips and, instead, purchased 30 new buses equipped with lap and shoulder seatbelts, air conditioning and DVD players that will be used to transport students to out-of-town activities.

The West Brook Bus Crash Families maintains a Website at www.safebuses4kids.org.