Traffic intensifies control of school buses

Traffic intensifies control of school buses

The General Directorateof Traffic (DGT) will intensify this week the controls on school buses,

which daily use half a million students and in which last year there were one dead and fifty

persons injured.

From Monday to Sunday, Civil Guard agents along with the local police who join this 

campaign will increase surveillance and inspections in school transport vehicles, with the aim

 of  checking authorizations and documentation.

Special attention will be paid to the use of seatbelts in those buses that have it installed,

the 38%, according to the Spanish Business Federation of Passenger Transport.

The agents will also verify that the technical conditions and safety elements of the vehicle

are those required by the regulations, as well as the special requirements that must be 

met by the driver himself, such as driving license or driving and rest times.

 According to the Road Passenger Transport Observatory, around 17,000 buses carry out

 school transport services, representing 40% of the private fleet, displacing more than 280

 million passengers per year.

Traffic recalls that last year one person lost his life in an accident that occurred in the 

interurban area. In addition, the number of seriously injured has gone from 1 to 5 and

the slightly injured have increased from 50 to 55 in the year 2012, in relation to the 

previous year.

Nine out of ten accidents happened at the time of getting in or out of the vehicle, or just in the

immediate moments, and in many cases they are abuses caused by a distraction of the minor,

the school bus driver, or the parents.

Inadequate speed and distractions are the main causes of accidents in which this type of

vehicle is involved. It is proven that at 50 kilometers per hour, which is the maximum speed

allowed on urban roads, the chances of a child surviving an accident without any safety 

measure is practically nil, even at low speed its survival is guaranteed.

As of 2013, all new EU buses and buses must have an emergency braking system that auto

matically activates when it detects the possibility of a collision. Since October 2007, no bus 

has been registered either without proper restraint systems installed.