Section 575IAC1-1-1. Applicability of specifications; definitions

   (a) The definitions in this section apply throughout this article.

  (b) "Multifunction school activity bus" or "MFSAB" means a bus of any type for use in transporting children on trips other than those between home and school. MFSABs may not be used for picking up and dropping off of regular education children during service between home and school and are thus not required to be equipped with functional traffic control devices. MFSABs may be used for picking up and dropping off special education, homeless, and foster children during service between home and school as long as they are not picked up in a location that would require the use of traffic control devices. MFSABs are required to meet all:

(1) requirements in the school bus crashworthiness standards;

(2) other requirements in the school bus crash avoidance safety standards; and

(3) post crash school bus standards.

All MFSABs must meet all federal and Indiana state construction and inspection standards of a school bus with the exception of functional traffic control devices.

  (c) "School bus" means any motor vehicle, other than a special purpose bus as defined in IC 20-27-2-8, designed and constructed for the accommodation of more than ten (10) passengers that is used for the transportation of Indiana school children. The term includes either the chassis or the body, or both the chassis and the body.

  (d) "School children" means children enrolled in private schools in grades kindergarten through 12 and all children enrolled in public school corporations.

  (e) "Type A school bus" means a conversion or body constructed upon a van-type or cutaway front-section vehicle with a left side driver's door, designed for carrying more than ten (10) persons. The term includes the following two (2) classifications:

(1) Type A-1, with a gross vehicle weight rating of ten thousand (10,000) pounds and under.

(2) Type A-2, with a gross vehicle weight rating over ten thousand (10,000) pounds.

  (f) "Type B school bus" means a conversion or body constructed and installed upon a van-type or cutaway front-section vehicle chassis or stripped chassis with a vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand (10,000) pounds and designed for carrying more than ten (10) persons. Part of the engine is beneath or behind, or both, the windshield and beside the driver's seat. The entrance door is behind the front wheels.

  (g) "Type C school bus" means a body installed upon a flat back cowl chassis with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand (10,000) pounds and designed for carrying more than ten (10) persons. All of the engine is in front of the windshield. The entrance door is behind the front wheels.

  (h) "Type D school bus" means a body installed upon a chassis with the engine mounted in the front, midship, or rear with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand (10,000) pounds and designed for carrying more than ten (10) persons. The engine may be:

(1) behind the windshield and beside the driver's seat;

(2) at the rear of the bus;

(3) behind the rear wheels; or

(4) midship between the front and rear axles.

The entrance door is ahead of the front wheels.

  (i) "Vehicles for transporting children with disabilities" means vehicles designed and constructed to meet the requirements for the appropriate size school buses with specialized equipment as prescribed under 575 IAC 1-5.5. (State School Bus Committee; Sec I; filed Feb 10, 1978, 3:31 p.m.: Rules and Regs. 1979, p. 323; filed Apr 14, 1981, 11:30 a.m.: 4 IR 778, eff Jul 1, 1981; filed Jun 20, 1988, 8:50 a.m.: 11 IR 3819; filed Mar 19, 2001, 11:32 a.m.: 24 IR 2467; readopted filed Oct 10, 2001, 3:37 p.m.: 25 IR 938; errata filed Jun 27, 2005, 1:45 p.m.: 28 IR 3583; readopted filed Jun 19, 2007, 10:10 a.m.: 20070704-IR-575070225RFA; readopted filed Nov 12, 2013, 11:21 a.m.: 20131211-IR-575130420RFA; filed Aug 15, 2014, 10:20 a.m.: 20140910-IR-575130244FRA)