Kids need seatbelts on buses

IT WOULD pretty much be every parents' nightmare.

You place your young son or daughter on a bus and wave goodbye as they head off for school - or on a school trip to somewhere exciting.

And some time later you hear there has been some sort of incident out there on the roads involving a bus...possibly a school bus.

Last Monday a school bus with about 35 youngsters on it, aged from 6 to 17, was in collision with a truck just south of Whakatane.

The images of the crash scene were unsettling to say the least, and when traumatic moments like that happen to a person of such a young age they sort of embed themselves into their minds.

The bad dreams will emerge, as will trepidation to get back on a bus again.

Basically, buses today are safe things, and their drivers are skilled readers of the roads and conditions and generally have plenty of experience up their sleeves.

But, as we see and hear about all too frequently, things go wrong out there on the roads.

I've seen kids on buses, and like on many occasions when in a group, they are a little excitable every now and then.

One or two tend to regard the seat as a small trampoline, while others tend to drift from seat to seat.

They can because there's nothing to stop them.

Nothing to restrain them.

The same kids are legally required to wear a safety helmet while riding a bike to school, or anywhere else, and if you take them out in the car the seatbelt has to go on...unless you are willing to cough up a $150 on top of foolishly placing a life at possible risk.

Every time you take off or land in an aircraft you are required to clip up the seatbelt... and if heavy weather emerges during the flight the seatbelt signs go on.

All makes sense really.

Yet there is no requirement in law to fix or wear a seatbelt in a bus.

I find that remarkable, although transport law-makers would argue the incidence rate for crashes involving buses is low, and in that regard they are right.

They are low, but when they do happen you're generally talking multiple victims.

Of course the cost to bus companies would be huge if such a law was imposed, but this is where the Government needs to step in.

The bus companies provide a great service so reward them...fund it for them.

Use the revenue from speed camera fines and sell the cars of recidivist drink drivers and reckless speedsters and put it into the arena of road safety...buy seatbelts for buses.