DALLAS -- Church insurer GuideOne is urging congregations to stop using 15-passenger vans which the company has deemed "inherently unsafe."

Nearly 10,000 of the 50,000 churches GuideOne insures are still using the vans, according to the Associated Baptist Press. GuideOne still covers 15-passenger vans it has already insured but has stopped writing new policies.

The company also has issued regulations about who may operate the vans: All drivers are required to have a commercial driver's license, a chauffeur's license or pass a defensive driver's course.

In April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reissued a cautionary warning to users of 15-passenger vans. Government research has determined 15-passenger vans have a rollover risk that nearly triples as the number of occupants increases from fewer than five people to more than 10.

First Baptist Church of Athens, Texas, is looking to dispose of its four 15-passenger vans.

"We've parked them and pulled the keys," family minister Joe Wood said.

"We would prefer they not be used for people transport, but after we sell them to someone, I don't guess we have much control over that," Wood said. "But from a moral standpoint, we don't want anyone riding in the vans. We would like to find someone who would remove all the rear seats and carry things back there and just have one or two people riding in it."

GuideOne, meanwhile, is recommending that churches use 15-passenger buses rather than the vans.

"The big difference between 15-passenger vans and buses is that buses are designed and made specifically to pass government safety tests for passenger vehicles," according to GuideOne's literature. "Fifteen-passenger vans are not held to this same standard. Buses generally are encased in a steel cage, have stronger flooring, specially designed seating with better collapse and impact absorption and better rollover protection."

The National Highway Transportation Safety Board claims the greatest determining factor in whether occupants in rollover crashes live or die is the use of seatbelts. According to the agency, passengers who wear seatbelts in 15-passenger vans are 75 percent less likely to be killed in a rollover crash than those who don't, the ABP reported.