Children’s safety on school buses must be the first concern
By Amanda Diamond As the tragic victims are buried Ireland is still struggling to come to terms with the Co. Meath bus crash which saw five schoolchildren lose their lives. But as the government pledges urgent action on road safety can we be sure the tragedy will not be repeated in the future? AMANDA DIAMOND investigates.
As the five girls killed in the Co. Meath bus crash were laid to rest last week the small Navan community united in an outpouring of grief.
The town bore witness to five wooden coffins being laid into five graves occupied by teenagers cut down in the prime of their lives.
No-one could believe a routine school bus journey could leave five families grieving and an entire town in shock.
But perhaps what is equally as shocking is the knowledge that it could happen again.
Experts have said if the bus had seat belts the five girls could be alive today.
But given the government’s controversial arrangement allowing three children on two seats it was impossible for seat belts to be worn even if they had been in place.
Now the government has bowed to pressure and pledged to phase out their three-for-two policy in two or three years.
But parent groups have said that kind of time scale is ludicrous and unacceptable.
Parents have called for a boycott of all school buses across Ireland from September until seat belts are fitted and buses are made safer.
President of the National Parent’s Council Eleanor Petrie said the government’s delay was disgraceful:
“We’ve been fobbed off for years with excuses. Now it’s time for action,” she said. “If it fails, parents will take a stand and refuse to allow their children on unsafe buses.”
Dr Alf Nicholson of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital said the absence of seat belts on school buses meant the Meath tragedy was unsurprising.
And he said it could happen again.
“A major incident such as this was an accident waiting to happen,” he said.
“If you’re not wearing a seat belt you are very likely to sustain very serious injuries or be killed.”
As a result of the Meath tragedy the EU parliament voted for all new coaches to have seat belts fitted.
But this does not apply to existing vehicles operating in Ireland — something which parents want changed.
School buses in Britain may also soon be forced to install seat belts as a result of the tragedy.
But it is not just the lack of seat belts that has been placed under scrutiny.
There is mounting belief that the unfinished road in Meath caused the school bus to skid and eventually run out of control.
The road had yet to be finished off with a surface of chips and tar or hot rolled asphalt — substances which give roads their grip.
Several roads in Ireland remain without this layer and this is something which Roads Construction Supervisor Tommy Gallagher said could cause more fatalities.
Mr Gallagher — whose daughter died after an accident on a similar road surface in Co. Mayo — claimed the lack of skid resistance contributed to the Meath crash.
He also said more deaths would be inevitable if government safety measures were not put in place.
But the government has refused to comment on the possibility of the temporary road surface contributing to the tragedy until the three investigations into the crash publish their findings.
Parents and motorists alike will now be calling on the government to robustly address all factors in the Meath school bus crash in order to ensure Ireland never witnesses a tragedy on this scale ever again.
The cost of safety…
Fitting seat belts into older school buses would cost just over €700 per pupil.
However, waiting for the school bus fleet to be entirely made up of new buses with seat belts included could take up to the year 2020, state authorities have warned.
But the cost of replacing the entire fleet would amount to over €100million as over 90 per cent of the larger buses in the existing 3,000-strong school fleet do not to have seat belts fitted.
The Government have estimated the cost of upgrading a single school at around €38,000 — which with 53 pupils allocated to a bus, breaks down to o717 per child.
Installing seatbelts would also put an end to 53-seater buses being allowed to carry up to 79 school pupils under the current ‘three children per two seats’ rule.
But this move would require the provision of more than 40,000 adult seats, which would mean adding an extra 880 buses to the fleet, at a proposed cost of €57million.
Engineering work to older vehicles is thought to cost €19,000 per vehicle, with the retro-fitting of seat belts costing another €19,000.
There are currently around 3,000 school buses in use every day under the Department of Education’s school transport scheme. | 