Senator Feinstein to Introduce Legislation to Require Seatbelts for Farm Workers
February 17, 2000

Fresno, CA – In the wake of a series of crashes involving unsafe vehicles that have killed and injured farmworkers, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today unveiled legislation that requires a designated seat and seat belt for each person riding vehicles used to transport the workers.

“Since 1994, at least 63 farm workers have died in farm-labor vehicle accidents in the Central San Joaquin County alone,” Senator Feinstein said. “With seat belts in the vehicles, many of those fatalities may have been prevented. This bill says enough is enough -- our nation’s farmworkers should not have to put their lives at risk just to travel to their job site.”

“This is a national problem and one which calls for a national solution,” Senator Feinstein said. “Migrant workers live all over the country and have work that frequently carries them across state lines. Long overdue, this simple safety measure will save lives.”

California's Farm Labor Transportation Act of 1999, which was sponsored by Assemblyman Dean Florez and signed into law last year requires that all farm labor transportation vehicles have seat belts. Another recently enacted California state law sponsored by Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes established new registration requirements for farm labor vehicles and sets stiff penalties for not meeting safety requirements.

“I am gratified that the rest of the nation may soon follow California’s lead in providing basic safety protections for agricultural workers traveling to and from their jobs,” Governor Davis said. “And I am pleased that Senator Feinstein has seen fit to use California’s law, which I was happy to sign last year, as a model for the rest of the country.”

"Given our legislative actions last year, California is now the leader in farmworker transportation safety, but it is incomplete without federal legislation to protect all farmworkers throughout the nation," Assemblyman Florez said. "With Senator Feinstein's help, we can begin the process of ensuring all farmworkers across the nation get to and from work safely."

Today, many farmworkers are still being transported to fields in crowded vans lacking basic safety equipment. There are reports of vans originally designed for 10 people, transporting up to 20 passengers with no access to seat belts. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, farm occupations have the second highest work-related fatalities, and 45% of these fatalities are vehicular related.

Unfortunately, existing Federal law leaves migrant workers inadequately protected. Regulations issued under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act prohibit the transport of migrant workers unless the vehicles have adequate service brakes, parking brakes, steering mechanisms, windshield wipers, tires, and rearview mirrors. But current law does not mandate designated seating positions or an operational seatbelt for each passenger.

The Seatbelts for Farm Workers Act of 2000 would:

• Require a seat for each passenger and require each seat to have operational seat belt. The legislation makes it illegal to transport migrant workers in overcrowded, ill-equipped vehicles.

• Close loopholes that permit vehicles transporting farmworkers to operate without seatbelts.

• While Federal law now requires vans manufactured with up to 10 passenger seats to have operational seatbelts for each seat, after a new van is sold, the owner can legally remove the rear seats and install bare benches.

• Similarly, Federal law permits an individual to purchase a van with an empty cargo bay to install benches without seatbelts.

• Set a seven-year transition period after which commercial operators that transport farm workers could only use vehicles that meet the same seat and seatbelt standards as new vehicles.

The following are just a few of the recent accidents involving farm workers traveling in vehicles without seatbelts:

• February 10, 2000 -- Fourteen people were injured when a car ran a stop sign and crashed into a van carrying farm workers near Goshen, in Tulare County. Authorities cited the driver of the van three months ago for illegally transporting workers -- But at the time of the accident, he still had not received certification to transport workers.

• September 10, 1999 - Thirteen people were injured south of Fresno when an unlicensed van driver failed to stop for a posted stop sign and collided with another car. The van had seven seats -- all with seatbelts -- but four were seated on the floor.

• August 9, 1999 - Thirteen tomato field workers were killed and two others injured after an unlicensed driver collided with a tractor-trailer in West Fresno. Most of the victims in this horrific crash rode on three bare benches in the back of the van.