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OLDER NEWS
Just a thought.
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, unless newer buses, hence the old rubbish on some school routes.
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.
Councils 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.
Surely our children are the most precious gift we have.
Your local authority cannot be told what to do by any government, they are a power unto themselves, as they say " we are government, local government" The Department of Transport tell us ALL Local Authorities, can INSIST that improvements can be are carried out on school bus safety.The legislation is there to do so.
Westminster, Welsh Assembly & The Scottish Government can tell your council what it expects them to do, but they cannot force the issue, incredible but true! So mostly if they decide against the issue , is that the end of the argument !
We know councils & the both Governments are looking at proposals for change as already discussed & agreed by the DOT.
These are:-
· Extra lights can be fitted higher up on the school bus.
· Hazard lights can be used to warn traffic
· Illuminated signs can be fitted like “SCHOOL BUS” or “CAUTION”
· There is no limit to the size the school bus safety sign, it can be any size
Not however for a law stopping overtaking a school bus unloading. That is not a devolved power!
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12th December 2008. Meeting Aberdeenshire Council
Aberdeenshire councillors have approved a range of measures to improve safety on the school run, following the recent tragic deaths of two pupils on the area’s roads.
It explored various issues including: revised legislation and enforcement; escorts on school buses; the visibility of vehicles and pupils; yellow school buses; pick-up/drop-off procedures; road safety education and promotional and awareness campaigns.
we wonder how much of this has been accomplished
· Approved work on revised road safety DVDs for pupils
· Backed a response to the Yellow School Bus Commission
· Asked that officers and transport operators jointly prepare options for revised and supplementary school bus warning signage and lighting
· Supported joint working with the Scottish Government to examine the scope for the redesign of the existing school bus sign
· Instructed senior officers to meet with the Scottish and UK Governments to discuss how any further review of legislation concerning banning the overtaking of stationary school vehicles should be progressed
· Approved further work to design fashionable high-vis clothing
· Instructed officers to disseminate information on existing school transport policy, and other road safety issues, to pupils, parents and teachers through the GLOW intranet system
· Instructed work on the evaluation/progression of pick-up/drop-off points
· Instructed work with Scottish Government officials to encourage further research of pick-up/drop-off points through relevant local authority associations covering road safety and public transport
· Instructed officers to work with partners to maximise the use of the media to promote joint, coordinated messages to pupils, parents and drivers regarding the issues surrounding road safety and school transport
Councillors also asked officers to do further work investigating the feasibility and costs of introducing interactive roadside bus stops aimed at increasing the visibility of pupils at school transport pick-up/drop-off sites.
The council already undertakes an extensive range of road safety education initiatives in all schools, but councillors approved further investigation of opportunities to introduce new education initiatives to support improved road safety.
They also approved the launch of a school poster competition aimed at developing a poster which would be displayed inside and outside school buses in Aberdeenshire to raise awareness amongst drivers of the potential for pupils crossing.
In addition the committees asked officers to:
Reinforce the crucial importance of the correct use and display of school bus signs in line with the current contractual requirements
Restate the clear requirement within current contracts for the use of hazard warning lights when picking up and dropping off pupils
Request that all operators also use dipped headlights when picking up and dropping off pupils
THERE ARE CHANGES COMING FROM ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL
WHEN THEY ARE ADOPTED IN FULL WE WILL LET YOU KNOW
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Aberdeenshire & City Council, along with Moray are considering an increase in the size of the safety sign, as you know there is no maximum size to this, so in fact it could be much larger, it needs to be.
The councils are running a trial of the Swedish System See Me run by AMPARO, it is however not cheap, maybe some of the simpler options might be a better, they could be started now. We do however agree a trial is needed.
The council told us that experts agree rotation of safety measure is better than using ones that are constantly in use, because they lose there effect.
There is a cure for that is to use signs that catch attention, brightly lit & if possible flashing.
We all know the effect the flashing 30mph sign in towns& villages has on drivers, it works!
The councils involved are reviewing & assessing their pick up/drop of points, which might be a good idea, the feeling is, at least by me in rural areas, that maybe the days of a stop at every road end needs to stop.
OTHER ORGANISATIONS
The councils are working with COSLA [ Convention of Scottish Local Authorities ] www.cosla.gov.uk & ATCO, [Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers, www.atco.co.uk] which is fine by us, they both support many of the points we have already put forward, we congratulate them on their forward thinking, especially as they are regarded as having a sensible & very stable voice with in their fields of expertise.
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PETITION PE1223-COSLA REPLY
COSLA and ATCO (Scotland) has previously said that we would also support the introduction of legislation prohibiting the overtaking of school buses when children were boarding and, more importantly, disembarking along with the suggested & that bus operators should be required to remove such signs when the vehicle is not carrying school children to or from school. datory use of flashing lights.
Currently hazard warning lights may be used when picking up and setting down school children but there is no legislative requirement to do so.
Consequently, many tendering authorities require hazard warning lights to be used through their Terms and Conditions of Contract for the provision of school transport services.
The problem highlighted previously was the need to consider amending the Education (Scotland) Act, 1980 and to make Regulations under the Road Traffic Regulation Act, 1984 to achieve what Mr Beaty’s petition requests.
However, as road traffic legislation is not a devolved matter, we assume that any such proposals could only be introduced through the UK Parliamentary process.
We assume that the Scottish Parliament would want to make the appropriate representations to the Department for Transport on these matters.
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At times the question of school transport safety totally fails me, why do not more people, parents, grand parents, who ever are in charge of school children, speak up & out.
Is it a case of “It won’t happen to us” don’t count on that, we & those who have written to us all thought that, & THERE ARE MANY OF THEM.
Are you as a parent, if your children use the school bus, totally happy with the safety measures provided ?
Different drivers on school buses often day after day, especially in towns & cities, are all these drivers checked through Disclosure Scotland, what about public service bus drivers who also carry school children, are they checked at all?
We leave you with these thoughts today, all we ask is you think about them, read the site, see what your council can do, & often wont, simple measure that can & will save lives, that are not implemented.
I can say, some of the replies we have had from various councils regarding school transport leave us cold at the thought of what might happen & in fact as we can testify, does happen.
Decisions left to the bus driver, or the coach operator, decisions that affect your child, left to a driver , i think not!!
There has to be a total safety coverage for every child, all councils should implement the same policy.
Why should a child be safer in one council area than another,in 2010 our children deserve better than this.
If you are unhappy, tell your council, your MP & your MSP, then tell us, so we can take it forward to the benefit of all.
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22 years, far ahead of the UK it appears
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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. Across Ohio, they transport hundreds of thousands of children to and from school every day with few problems. School pupils, as every child does, have the right to be safe. & not just on school transport. It had been 22 years since a child died in a bus crash in the state, a far safer rate, in that sense, than for any other vehicle on the road. But according to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, there were more than 17,000 injuries on school buses in 2006. Site Last Updated - 02/09/2010
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