The College recently issued a media release supporting recommendations from the NSW School Bus Safety Advisory Committee  as follows:

The Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) today called for urgent action to progressively fit seatbelts on new and replacement school buses on country high-speed routes.

Although it is well known that seatbelts save lives, they are currently not in use in school buses on high-speed roads in the two most populous states in Australia, Victoria and NSW.

“Protecting our children, our most vulnerable road user group, is vital,” said ACRS President Mr Lauchlan McIntosh.

High speed school buses include those that travel on single lane country roads, a place where children are particularly at risk because these areas have less medical resources to quickly and adequately handle a mass casualty event.

The most recent report by the NSW School Bus Safety Community Advisory Committee recommends that we start the process of progressively fitting new and replacement country school buses with seatbelts as they come into service.

The College strongly endorses this outcome.

“We have over 2 million school children in Australia, and with school about to start up again this issue should be at the top of the agenda for politicians”.

View the Complete Media Release and the ACRS Policy on School Buses here. An copy of Lauchlan McIntosh’s resultant Interview on ABC Radio can heard here.