First up was the incident in Meath in May of 2005. 5 schoolgirls were killed in that accident when their bus overturned. Following that, there was also a schoolbus crashed in Offaly in April of 2006 in which a boy was killed. But it's not only schoool buses that have been under scrutiny in recent times. In February of 2004 a Dublin Bus was involved in an incident on Wellington Quays. Five people weremowed down by the bus as they stood on the footpath.
I don't know what is going on with the state of the bus system in this country but surely three serious accidents in just two years is three too many. Of course after all of this, there was a big furore concerning the safety of school buses. And rightly so, but it seems to me that the frenzy and talk of changes on buses is just that, all talk. I can't see that there have been any major changes on buses. A number of buses now have seatbelts but I know for certain that there is noone on a school bus encouraging children to put them on. And lets face it, if a child has the option of not wearing a seatbelt, that's the option they're going to take.
I think that the only acceptable course of action that can be taken to ensure saftey on school buses is to train bus drivers properly for the specific job and to have a second adult present on the bus to supervise. The driver of a bus cannot be held responsible for supervising the children on a journey. It is his/her job to drive the bus, not to watch children.
I know that if I was a parent I would not be comfortable allowing my child to take a bus to school knowing what goes on. Children do not wear seatbelts, bags are placed in the aisles and children do not stay in their seats. It's simply unacceptable and I think major changes are required before we can say we won't have more major accidents.
http://dynimg.rte.ie/00004cbb0b2.jpgFOR MORE GO TO:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0726/navan.html
No comments:
Post a Comment