WASHINGTON D.C. Federal safety regulators are close to wrapping up the second phase of a series of bus crash tests that could be the prelude to a requirement that all new motorcoaches be equipped with three-point passenger restraints.

Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration insists it is too early to announce any conclusions about pursing such a measure, there are indications a rulemaking procedure for a safety restraint requirement could be in the offing.

"Any such discussion would be premature at this time," insists NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson.

However, there have been reports that a lead official involved in the crash tests acknowledged at a Bus Industry Safety Council meeting in July that the agency will almost certainly issue a notice of proposed rulemaking for three-point safety belts sometime in early or mid 2009.

Tyson, who would not directly comment on the reports, emphasized that researchers will review all of the data from the first two phases of the three-part tests before making any decisions on future plans or actions.

"We expect to have enough data from the crash and sled tests to make a decision on a rulemaking, but I dont expect a decision until sometime later this year or early next year." he stressed.

The crash tests were concluded in December, while the sled tests are ongoing and are expected to be finished by the end of September. The third phase of the testing program, which is not due to start until next year, will involve bus fires and are not expected to impact decisions on the passenger restraint issue.

Preliminary results of the crash tests indicated that motorcoach passengers using lap and shoulder restraints are likely to fair better in a front-end collision than those who are either unrestrained or using only lap belts. The data obtained from controlled 30-mile-per-hour crashes of coaches showed that while crash dummies equipped with three-point restraints suffered signs of some low head and neck impact, those with less or no restraints recorded much higher impacts to their heads and other parts of their bodies.

Engineers working on the tests have said they were not surprised at the results, especially since other crash tests using automobiles and school buses have showed similar results.

The latest tests are the first done by the federal government using motorcoaches and come at the urging of the motorcoach industry. Operators and others in the industry have for some time maintained that the government should conduct extensive tests on coaches before proposing any type of safety measures for new coaches such as passenger restraints and structural modifications.