 |
||
ODDS & ENDS NEWSPETITION'S UPDATE 30 June 2010 UPDATE 30 JUNE CONSIDERATION OF PETITION PE1223 The Public Petitions Committee considered the above petition at its meeting yesterday, 29TH JUNE.
The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport in the Department for Transport, the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police and the Chief Constable of Cumbria Constabulary to invite them to give evidence at its meeting on 26 October
........................................
ALTHOUGH THE PETITION IS IN MY NAME, I ALSO INCLUDED ALL FAMILIES WHO HAVE LOST CHILDREN & HAD THEM INJURED
THESE WERE THE POINTS RAISED
ALSO FURTHER DOWN
Written Questions for Petition 1223
• We need it made illegal to use the sign unless children are aboard
• We need better visibility for school transport, adverts are larger than the sign we use for safety, we need signage changed & improved, led flashing signs etc.
• We need larger extra flashing lights [The Dept of Transport legislation allows this] not the simple hazard lights buses use, many people simply use these hazards lights to pop into the newsagents,
• We need to ensure that this also applies to service buses that also transport school children; they do not have any extra protection, as offered to those who travel often on private contract buses, which are sometimes yellow
• We need to ensure no children are carried in double decked buses, which often carry a whole community aboard, or from the same street
• We need to ensure that every local authority in Scotland follows the same procedure, in safe guarding our school children. as in the short term options now being considered by Aberdeenshire Council
• We need to ensure school children are offered the same safety measures that they do in the family car, or in taxi used for transporting school children by providing seat belts, if a bus crashes & goes on its side, occupants are then dragged out of any broken windows.
You can find the whole letter here
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/petitions/pdfs/PE1223.pdf
ALSO
Written Questions for Petition 1223
PUBLIC PETITIONS COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION OF PE1098 AND
PE1223 QUESTIONS ARISING FROM COMMITTEE MEETINGS (See ‘Written submissions’ for responses) TUESDAY 15 JUNE 2010—
Scottish Government—
Society of Chief Officers of Transportation (SCOTS) Road Safety and Working Group—
UK Government—
Strathclyde Police Force—
Cumbria Police Force—
VERY SUCCESFUL PETITION MEETING ON 15/6/2010
FUTHER UPDATES TO COME, this is a brief analysis
The petitions committee were very frank in their discussions regarding school transport.
We had their full support in every way, it was very encouraging indeed, really good open meeting
Their intention is to carrying this forward & continue to seek answers from local authorities themselves, which the Scottish Government could of done so if it wished, instead of leaving fact gathering to us!!.
This will incude meeting with other local authorities & possibly transport groups with an interest.
This is a very positive move & local authorities will have to answer in depth why safety measures vary from area to area.
Also spoken about was standing on doubled decked school buses, we are agasht this till goes on in this day & age, i ask you to think about that.
Up to how many pupils on one bus, imagine the bus having to break suddenly, i leave the rest to you!!
The answers given by Transport Scotland & The Scottish Government were pathetic, & many questions asked by the committee were simply in fact left answered, rules quoted or they simply referred to them as local authority problems.
Commonly know as “buck passing”
These people who speak out are not MSPS & are unelected, but wield great power sadly, I do not feel that is democratic at all.
Which they are not, the Government has a duty of care as well.
I will upload the link to the petitions committee as soon as it is available .
IF YOU REQUIRE INFO NOW PLEASE CONTACT ME
....................................................
I attended the external meeting of the Scottish Governments petitions meeting on 15th March in Anstruther. Fife If you wish to read what the petitions committee said re school bus safety.
Click on this School Bus Safety (PE1098 and PE1223)
You can also read the questions the petitions committee is asking of other departments here Written Questions for PE1223
PETITIONS COMMITTEE The petitions committee meeting went well, the petition also continues for a while yet, until some more questions are answered.
Good news for us, better news for pupils.
We would like to thank all the committee members, since 2008 they have, as we have, strived to find ways to help this situation.
It now appears to totally fall on your local authority, where ever you stay.
This is also we were told where the problems will now occur, with pending cuts in every direction.
It will depend on which local authority & doing what.
PETITION HEARD ON 15TH DECEMBER
The petitions meeting went well; it was more of around the table discussion to try to take things forward again.
The yellow bus commission was represented by a very able gentleman Mr Garth Goddard who explained much about his work with the commission & their intentions.
Others were Malcolm Bruce MP;
Josh Kane MSYP, Convener of Scottish Youth Parliament Transport, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee;
Richard McKenzie, Public Transport Manager, Aberdeenshire Council
Ewan Wallace, Head of Transportation, Aberdeenshire Council
Ron Beaty, Petitioner
Sadly Lynne Merrifield could not attend due to illness
Let me once again state what was spoken about at the petitions committee meeting.We agree all buses involved in school contracts, this includes buses on out of school activities..If children are aboard, the sign should be shown, there is no reason not to do so.
Malcolm Bruce ideas were also continued as were others, it was an open meeting & now Stewart Stevenson & Paul Clark MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport Department for Transport, have been written to.
We were grateful to the petitions committee who are still running with this & there seems to be a determination to explore various ideas.
We fight on, until every child in Scotland, then the UK have the same level of safety, & not this mish mash of some rules apply & others don’t.
As as group we would like to thank the petitions committee & its members for continuing this petition, they could of easily ended this with a no result. As happened in 2006.
As it happens they are committed people, not only that that but they also have a compassion for children’s safety & that makes the difference.
Read it here
...................................
Read more about the petiton: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1467779?UserKey=#ixzz0Vvnhqkd8 ...............................................................
Local authorities can insist on the school bus sign being removed when a bus is not being used to carry school children.
Insist hazard lights are used during pick up & drop off [ PUDO] you will see this name used further down.
Insist on the safety sign changing.there's is no maximum size to the safety sign, which means it could be much larger, the councils are working toward this end [ we are expecting an announcement regarding this & other measures in the next few months ] Insist coaches/ buses fit extra hazard lights higher up on the vehicle Insist illuminated signs can be placed in both front & back windows Insist seatbelts are fitted in every school bus.The problem here is there is a huge cost to this, the problem is, What price do you put on a childs life Aberdeenshire Council has now told school bus operators to use dipped headlights when children are aboarding. WE THINK THOSE MEASURES ARE PLAIN ENOUGH FOR ANYONE TO UNDERSTAND
WE NOW WAIT TO SEE WHAT OTHER LOCAL AUTHORITIES PROPOSE IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE
................................................... SCHOOL TRANSPORT & THE SCHOOL SIGN
We have been told that the vast majority of school contracts are in fact in the process for re-tendering in 2010.
We have also been told the review of the contracts will include clauses relating to the display of the school bus sign.
ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL ARE NOW INSISTING IN THERE NEW BUS CONTRACTS THE FOLLOWING
SCHOOL BUS SAFETY SIGN TO BE REMOVED IF NOT CARRYING SCHOOL CHILDREN
THE COUNCIL ARE ALSO TRYING TO DESIGN AN IMPROVED SAFETY SIGN
ROAD SAFETY POSTERS ON EVERY VEHICLE
A SAFETY DVD TO BE SHOWN TO EVERY DRIVER
SEAT BELTS ON EVERY SCHOOL BUS, SO THIS MEANS OLD STYLE DOUBLE DECKERS WILL ALSO BE BANNED FROM SCHOOL TRANSPORT
...............
ONE PROBLEM WE THINK WILL HAPPEN, & ONE WE TOLD YOU WOULD HAPPEN, UNLESS ABERDEENSHIRE HAVE CHANGED THE RULES
IF YOUR CHILD USES A SERVICE BUS, ALSO USED AS A SCHOOL BUS, THEY WILL NOT HAVE [ OUR UNDERSTANDING IS ] FITTED SEATBELTS
SOME SCHOOL CHILDREN WILL HAVE GREATER SAFETY ON THE BUS, THAN OTHERS
THAT IS WRONG, IT IS VERY WRONG
YOU CAN ALWAYS TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THIS BY MAILING US THRO OUR GUESTBOOK
..............................................
We raise safety on a regular basis , ASKING support from ALL our Scottish MPs at Westminster, & pointing them to our website so they can read what happens .
We contact many local authorities & are now in fact asking every one of them to respond regarding safety measure they have in place
We have NOW written to each elected member of the Scottish Goverment & Westminster.
It can be hard getting our point across as many MP's wont reply to those outside their constituency. There is no other way of getting our point across except by writing & speaking with them, we are not interested in party politics or point scoring, we simply want to save childrens lives. This problem affects every parliamentary constituency, school bus accidents don’t neatly fit into compartments, they affect everyone , regardless of where they live.
THIS IS A UK PROBLEM
PUPILS DO NOT HAVE INCLUSIVE SAFETY IN SCHOOL TRANSPORT
We are really encouraged by some of the replies we have had from MP's & parents.
Of course many are also parent's & grand parent's so it’s not hard to see why there is an interest.
This is something every parent whose child uses school transport should be asking themselves “Is my child safe getting of & on school transport?”
"we thought our's were"
The part we don’t understand is why it's so hard to get an interest in School Safety Transport in England & Wales.
This we fail to understand, they have children killed & injured as we do in Scotland.
IT APPEARS THROUGH OUT THE UK ,SOME COUNCILS ARE CONVINCED THEY ARE DOING ENOUGH REGARDING SCHOOL TRANSPORT SAFETY.
WHEN IN FACT THE SAME COUNCILS HAVE CHANGED NOTHING OVER 30 ODD YEARS. FASTER ROADS, MORE TRAFFIC, YET NOTHING HAS CHANGED!
THEY ARGUE ABOUT THIS & THAT & ARE QUITE HAPPY TO IMPLEMENT MINIMUM SAFETY STANDARDS FOR SCHOOL TRANSPORT, BUT FOR SOME REASON NOT THE MAXIMUM.
I DOUBT IF THAT COULD BE SAID OVER THEIR OWN WORKERS SAFETY.
IF SCHOOL CHILDREN HAD A TRADE UNION , MANY OF THESE PROBLEMS WOULD OF BEEN RESOLVED BY NOW.
THE SAD THING IS , LOCAL AUTHORITIES UK WIDE KNOW HOW THEY CAN IMPROVE THE SITUATION, THEY KNOW THEY CAN CHANGE SAFETY PROCEDURES.
BUT THEY WONT & PARENTS NEED TO BE ASKING WHY, BEFORE THE NEXT ACCIDENT!
...............................
|
||