India has only about 1 percent of the world’s vehicles but accounts for 10 percent of the world’s road accidents. According to Save Life Foundation, there is a road accident death in India every four minutes and about 380 deaths occur every day, equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing daily.
School buses need to be one of the safest forms of motor vehicle transportation. Traffic volume on the Nation’s highways has increased dramatically over the past twenty years. Also, there have been increases in the number of school buses, the number of miles traveled by school buses, and the number of students transported in school buses. Thus, there is a greater exposure to potential school bus crashes nowadays than earlier days. So traveling by school bus should be seven times safer than traveling by car or truck. More than 30,000 people are killed in traffic crashes every year.
Considering the recent facts that the school children are mostly prone to the negligence of the driver, for ensuring the safety of the school children the governments are on their way to make the speed governors mandatory in school buses . Chandigarh, Kerala, West Bengal etc have made the speed governors mandatory by law. For those categories of transport vehicles that carry hazardous goods should have a speed governor with a speed limit of 60 kmph. These types of vehicles include school buses, local buses, tankers and dumpers.
Accidents are mostly due to failure to comply with safety regulations, policies and procedures or vehicle failure. In addition to determining fault, one of the primary reasons to do an investigation of school bus accidents is to prevent future accidents of identical or similar causes. Furthermore, accident investigations usually shine a light on ‘hidden’ safety issues that can be added to safety features and/or training in the future. Strict actions are carried by Motor Vehicles Official for violating the traffic law, absence of speed governor etc.
Some of the reasons that also make safety issues in school buses include lack of seat-belts on school buses, school bus capacity concerns, lack of training to the drivers, school bus outsourcing etc. For a school bus driver, safety training is one of the main factors to ensure the safety of children’s. Speed governors installed vehicles, ensures that pre-set speed limit is followed by the driver. This will avoid reckless driving and over speeding by the drivers. Certain elements of training differ for drivers of school buses and other buses. For example, school bus drivers generally receive specialized training in passenger management, loading and unloading procedures, and vehicle evacuation, as well as additional training in transporting, assisting, and monitoring special-needs children.
Under child safety laws, children should provide helmets and seat belts, and an adult should be posted on all school buses to supervise them and check errant drivers. The principle argument in favor of mandating seat belts on all school buses is to provide protection in side impact collisions and to prevent the ejection of the child in the event of a rollover accident.
Let us ensure the children’s safety on school buses by installing speed governors and make a safe drive.