School pupils, as every child does, have the right to be safe. & not just on school transport.
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Priorities for school safety.
All we can do is meantime is stand back & allow those who govern us the chance to get things right.
Laws being changed, well ordinary people cannot do this , nor force councils to adopt safety measure by making school buses safer, only those in power can, & we rely on them.
We pray they hear & see what has happened over the years, the deaths , the injuries, then we pray they take action.
Contract bus routes are going to be the next problem.
Service bus's that carry school children & fare paying passengers, how do we make these buses/coaches safer & visible, all they have to show at this time is the smallest sign they can.
Welcome to 20010, this is school children's transport safety we are speaking about, a small sign in the front windscreen, & slightly larger one on the back of the bus, that's it.
In the year 20010, is this it, the sum total of safety for school children on a bus.
Tractors,Horse boxes & Council vehicles have better & larger signage than the school bus
Is this really how much we value a child's life?
The Department of Transport tell us, that most children who travel to school by bus, do so on public service buses, so where does this leave you child .
Service/contract bus providers & in fact both the Governments need to be aware, we will cannot leave things as they are, but we want to work with anyone who wants change.
Nor do they need to have seat belts fitted
Safety has to change, its has to be paramount, children have to put before profit, & change has to welcomed & accepted .
Councils, as indeed The Scottish & Westminster Governments have to realise, that making local authorities accept the lowest offer on contract bids is false economy.
They tell us they have to accept the lowest offer, NO THEY DON’T
They have to accept the offer that represents best value, that is not always the cheapest
You get what you pay for,pure & simply, its the same in every business, & that's what local authorities are, a business, run in fact for us, we pay the rates & the wages. Some employed in these organisations forget that!
In the survey we are asking you to complete, show some remarkable answers,
More visible school transport 90.09 %.
Service buses will never be that visible unless they change?
Do you think there is a safety issue with school transport 90 % say yes!
Double decker buses banned 72%
Short term measures ,there are some that can be implemented any time, & at little cost, some will need money, but when we see the amounts that are spent on various groups, we would like a share put into school bus safety & feel no shame asking.
We see £60. million is to given to towns for Town center regeneration, yes i expect its needed.
We see millions spent or given to the various arts, the millions spent on wildlife initiatives, to save this or that, the millions given to leisure activities.
All we ask is that some one recognises that amongst all these millions, some should be spent on children's transport safety, surely that is not to much to ask?
Money will be tight now for years, so maybe its time to consider what these million are spent on & how they are spent.
After all, regardless of what animal is in trouble, what picture needs to be bought for the nation, surely our children are the most precious gift we have.
In fact I doubt in the last 30 years if anything has actually been spent on school safety as regards transport.
Bus companies seem reticent to bring changes in, I suppose its financial reasons, but many changes will not cost a fortune at all.
But if governments can give millions to other causes, surely they can find some to give to bus operators to implement safety changes.
Private bus & taxi operators can give problems as well , although we are glad to say they are in the minority, but they still exist.
There are some who embrace change in safety regulations & we welcome them, then there others who it appears could not care less.
IT COSTS MONEY
Safety on school bus has been compromised by companies who have cut their contract price to the bone, then find themselves unable to maintain their coaches properly.
Let local authorities accept a fair price for a contract, , cheapest is not always the best. You get what you pay for in this life.
Past & present governments have had ample opportunity to upgrade school transport , to ensure safety is paramount , what has happened, nothing!
No political party has in fact changed anything, not one has changed the law to make school transport safer recently. They tinker around the edges.
Problems, it seems they find there are none, yet this issue has been raised by concerned MPs for years, usually after an accident.
Yet no one in government hears, because the government have their own pet projects, that are better vote winners than humble school bus safety.
Operation Coachman, which is a UK initiative, targets school transport and seeks to ensure that such transport is completely roadworthy, has all necessary documentation and operates within the law. Coachman normally runs for a two week period.
Buses run on the cheap are caught out , why should someone be allowed to put your child's life at risk.
Accidents happen, you can see that on our accident pages & school bus accidents are not uncommon, we can't stop them all, but we can ensure less occur with help from all those involved in transporting school children
Local Authorities UK wide can make a difference, Aberdeenshire Council,, Moray Council, Orkney, Shetland & Cumberland have all made some safety improvements ,possibly others as well ,we hope other councils will follow .
Improvements, yes, but more are needed are , not promises of of what might come.
Many English local authorities seem to lag behind, as do Welsh local authorities. The ones we have contacted really do not appear to interested.
Yet if you check our accident page, you will see many school bus accidents happen in England & Wales,they don't seem to grasp this at all.
Safety rules will change , as we continue to raise our profile, we continue to point parents & others to our website.
We do so to save lives & to try & stop the many injuries there are each year