Article: Risky ride for 70,000 students

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Risky ride for 70,000 students

Risky ride for 70,000 students
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun

Laurie Nowell

May 17, 2009 12:00am

MORE than 70,000 Victorian school children are being put at risk each day because their buses do not meet national safety standards.

Figures show that about 1400 buses on school runs in the country and outer suburbs do not have belts or the required anchoring points for seats.

The Royal College of Surgeons and the Australasian College of Road Safety say a school bus crash is a disaster waiting to happen and have called on the Brumby Government to make seatbelts compulsory on all buses.

National safety standards for non-urban buses, built since 1995, require seatbelts - as do Victorian state laws.

But the State Government has exempted what it calls "urban route" buses.

In a move road safety campaigners say is "cynical", the State Government has put country school buses under that classification.

That is despite the fact many of the buses travel at up to 100km/h on country roads amid other speeding traffic.

Other states began the upgrade of school buses in 2005.

It is understood the Australasian College of Road Safety has written to the Brumby Government urging it to take advantage of Federal Government Seatbelts for Kids funding to retrofit the buses with belts and stronger anchor points.

Applications worth just $1.2 million have so far been approved for Victorian buses as part of a funding package worth $40 million. The package expires at the end of 2011.

Private contractors who run the buses are responsible for making the funding applications, but say the contract conditions imposed by the State Government make upgrading the buses impossible because the "urban route" classification means they are bound to order buses with low-back seats and without the stronger anchor points.

In a discussion document, the Royal College of Surgeons road trauma advisory committee chief Prof Rob Atkinson writes: "We advocate that buses, particularly school buses and buses on high speed routes (80km/h or more) should be seatbelt equipped.

"The probabilities should (a crash) occur of serious injury and mortality are extremely high.

"We would therefore predict a devastating bus crash as one of the most likely mass casualty events that could occur in Australia."

V/Line and commercial bus lines have fitted seatbelts to buses on long-distance or high-speed routes, but school buses on some of the same roads are without belts.

A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said: "The major safety issue associated with school bus travel is the risk of passengers being struck by passing traffic after leaving the bus.

"That is where the Government is making major investments to increase safety at country school bus stops."