Bus Éireann defends lack of seat belts on buses

SEVEN out of 10 Bus Éireann school buses have no seat belts, the company revealed yesterday.

Following Monday’s accident in which five girls died, Bus Éireann defended its seat belt policy, insisting it was not law to have standard buses fitted with seat belts.

However, the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has found that children are up to three times more likely to die in accidents if they are not wearing a seat belt. Bus Éireann caters for 140,000 pupils for school runs every morning and evening.

“We comply with the law as it stands with the seat belts and the number of people we can have on buses,” a spokeswoman said.

She said: “Thirty per cent of the standard buses have seat belts, even though there is no legal requirement to have them. All vehicles are subject to tests by the Department of Environment.”

While the law may not require school buses to be equipped with seat belts, research has found that without them children are much more likely to die in road accidents.

An ETSC spokesman quoting the statistics for car accidents said: “Without a restraint, a car occupant will be thrown forward with a force of between 30 and 60 times his or her body weight in a crash at 48kmph. The chance of being killed or severely injured is about three times greater for occupants who are ejected during the crash.”

While the three-point belt used to restrain adults is the best device for restricting movement, the ETSC stressed that children need various types of restraint due to their different body mass.

Children under seven are more likely to suffer serious injuries to their head and neck if they are wearing normal seat belts in a forward facing position

The 53-seater, 12-year-old bus which crashed onto its side at Kentstown, was described by Bus Éireann officials as an average-aged vehicle which regularly collected teenagers from four schools in Navan for their homeward journey.

Some e116.5 million has been allocated by the Department of Education for the school transport scheme this year. It has operated since 1967.

Bus Éireann vehicles are included on a maintenance programme every 12 weeks or every 6,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

Drivers and pupils are regularly reminded of the need for safety on board the school bus and calendars containing safety instructions are issued to school transport system pupils, among other schemes.

Only last month, more than 50 Bus Éireann drivers received awards for safe driving.

A total of 5,000 school routes are served by Bus Éireann each year under the Department of Education transport scheme.