Crash anniversary - Lives are still at risk on school buses

ON today’s poignant anniversary of the tragedy in which five young girls lost their lives — when their school bus overturned in Co Navan — it is worrying to note that children continue to be at risk.

Despite progress on the installation of seat belts and the elimination of overcrowding in school buses, questions still hang over the road safety of many school run vehicles in the country’s ageing fleet.

It should not have taken last week’s near tragedy for the Government to question the sense of Bus Éireann checking the road worthiness of the bulk of its fleet.

In the public interest, and particularly in the interests of the 140,000 school children who daily travel on the country’s 3,000 buses, there are compelling reasons why that task should have been assigned to an independent service.

It has taken yet another incident to prompt Transport Minister Martin Cullen to seek an independent review of the way the national fleet is maintained and checked.

A week ago today, children were lucky to escape when the bus taking them home from a school in Co Meath went up in flames.

Alarmingly, this happened just 24 hours after the bus had been cleared for service — despite a report by its driver that smoke was belching from the engine.

On the same day, a fatality was narrowly averted as a Monaghan teenager fell off a school bus when the emergency door opened.

There is a glaring need to rationalise the Government’s approach to the vexed question of the safety of school buses. At present, this falls under the remit of separate Government departments, with one Minister responsible for the administration of school transport, while another has the job of regulating the operation of the fleet.

That is just one of a number of genuine concerns voiced by the Parents Council representing the interests of primary school pupils.

It is time to streamline the Government’s handling of a system which frustrated parents rightly describe as being approached on a piecemeal basis.

For instance, they bemoan, and justifiably so, the ongoing lack of an overall safety plan. This underlines the urgent need for Education Minister Mary Hanafin and Mr Cullen to respond in a positive manner to calls by parents for a purposeful engagement on the whole issue of school transport and the safety of the fleet.

Among other priorities, they want all school buses to be clearly identifiable, with standard colours and markings. They also believe that children, parents, school staff and bus personnel should be educated on safety matters. That makes a lot of sense.

In view of a series of incidents, an irresistible case can be made for introducing supervision on all buses and for supervisors and escorts to be properly trained. Among their other demands, parents want provision for the safe storage of schoolbags and for children to be seated and the door closed before the bus moves off.

On this sad day of days, memories will haunt the families and friends of those whose lives were forfeit a year ago.

Notwithstanding the long overdue advances made towards equipping school buses with seat belts, there is a grave onus on the Coalition ministers to address the continuing complaints of parents.

They want to see an end to this Government’s piecemeal approach to the operation of an ageing fleet under a system where young people are still at risk.

More needs to be done by the relevant authorities to ensure that the lives of Lisa Callan, Clare McCluskey, Sinead Ledwidge, Deirdre Scanlon, and Aimee McCabe were not lost in vain.