Second-level students ignore bus belts law

Second-level students in Meath are still failing to wear safety belts on school buses despite a widespread campaign to ensure compliance with new regulations in the wake of the 2005 Kentstown bus crash. None of the 15 teenage students being driven from Duleek to Drogheda on a school bus on Monday morning was wearing a seat belt, a Meath Chronicle investigation has revealed. Bus Eireann and private bus drivers in the county confirmed that safety provisions on many buses are widely ignored by students and a local councillor, Jimmy Cudden, maintains the only way to ensure compliance is to have a supervisor on each bus. The provision of safety belts on buses has been compulsory since September 2006 and a number of organisations, including the Department of Education and Science, Bus Eireann and the Road Safety Authority (RSA) have issued pleas to students to "belt up". However, the picture presented on Monday shows the difficulties faced by the authorities hoping to get across the safety message. Teenage second-level students were picked up by driver Paul Heeney at various points around Duleek between 7.50am and 8.10am on Monday and then driven to school in Drogheda. During the journey, some sat alone while others occupied seats alongside companions, but at no stage did any of the young people put on seat belts, even though they were available. On a separate run, this time involving national school pupils, every child wore a safety belt. Mr Heeney said that this was because, in many cases, a volunteer adult was also a passenger on the primary school bus and made sure that passengers used the belts. However, he said the situation which was evident on Monday relating to the failure to wear belts by second-level students and was common throughout the county and the country in general. When the inquest into the deaths of the five schoolgirls in the 2005 Navan school bus crash was held last month, Meath County Coroner John Lacy suggested a rider to the jury that seat belts should be fitted to all seats in school buses and that the owners should have a system in operation in relation to school buses to ensure that the schoolgoers avail of the belts, and that schools should initiate a safety awareness programme in relation to travelling on school buses and other relevant areas. Cllr Cudden said that he did not want to criticise any particular students for not wearing a seat belt. 'I know that teenagers sometimes feel that it"s not cool to wear the belts and I suppose they don"t like the idea of compulsion. What we have to get across is the message that people who don"t avail of safety belts are putting their own lives in danger. We all know that the wearing of belts saves lives and serious injury,' he said. The independent Duleek councillor has 20 years" experience of driving school buses. 'This whole problem was highlighted by the tragic accident at Kentstown in 2005. At that time, a lot of the buses were not fitted with seat belts, probably because they were not supplied at the point of sale maybe 10 years or more previously. 'I have always held the view that because of health and safety issues, it is just not possible for a driver with 40-50 passengers on board to be looking behind him or her to see who is not wearing a belt or who might be standing up in the bus.' He added: 'His job is to get those people safely to their destination. He can ask people to use the belts before the bus moves off, but that"s about it. There is an obvious need to have a supervisor on board to make sure that everyone is belted up. Without having someone to do that, you might as well not bother to have the belts fitted.' Road Safety Authority chief executive Noel Brett said yesterday (Tuesday) that the organisation had programmes in primary and secondary schools at both junior and senior cycles which covered getting to and from school safely. 'In addition, we send leaflets to every primary school to coincide with the new school year. We have also worked with Bus Eireann on roadshows and DVDs for schools nationwide,' he said. 'It is a requirement in the Road Safety Strategy 2007-2012 for each school to implement a road safety element in their safe school plan and we work with schools on a continuous basis to assist them with this.'