I fully agree that seatbelts should be compulsory on all V/Line buses and all school buses – you would think this would be self-evident, but at present there isn’t even a seatbelt in situ, should a passenger wish to use it.
The driver, however, like every other driver on the road, must legally wear a seatbelt – weird, hey?
Kids have been brought up to always wear their seatbelts in a car, and they would similarly wear them on a school bus, provided they had a seat to sit on.
My husband who is now 44 well remembers being packed into a bus, twice a day, every school day for the trip from Bendigo to Junortoun.
That was at least 25 years ago, and things have not changed for our kids.
They are still packed like cattle onto buses, often with standing room only, heavy schoolbags and all – a disaster in the making.
Surely compulsory seatbelts would be a Godsend for bus drivers too – properly restrained schoolkids of any age must be much easier to supervise.
The kids would also not be jammed in cheek-by-jowl, conditions conducive to very bad tempers and behaviour, even among the most mature of adults.
Another outrage is the cost of kids’ bus passes – $300-plus a year, and we, like many other parents, have three kids to pay for.
At least $900 a year, and the kids are not even guaranteed a seat, let alone a seatbelt. It is not difficult to estimate that they are more likely guaranteed an injury, should there be an accident, such likelihood becoming much greater on the many country-buses that ferry kids to and from school at speeds of up to 110kmh, every school day of every year.
Michelle Goldsmith,
Eaglehawk
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