Editorial: Child belts needed

I've often wondered about the fact school buses don't have seatbelts.

In just about every other part of road safety, the message to take precautions, belt up and do whatever is necessary to protect life and limb is hammered home to us just about every day of the week.

And for good reason. Our roads, with thousands of cars and thundering trucks, are dangerous places.

So why is it that school buses seem to be an exception?

The answer? Cost.

The issue of school bus safety has been pushed into the spotlight after a logging truck smashed into the back of a school bus in rural Ruatoki, south of Whakatane, on Monday.

The accident injured 35 children, six seriously.

I believe it is time the issue of school bus seatbelts was properly addressed.

Yes, the issue is complex but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be tackled.

In today's paper, we reveal education providers are divided and local bus companies are warning that the cost of installing belts would be huge.

Owner of Tauranga company Bethlehem Coachlines Neil Jamieson points out that drivers are not allowed to touch children on the bus and estimates it would cost $30,000 per bus to re-fit the country's school buses with new seats and seatbelts. More buses would also be needed.

But one principal tells how on any given day a 40-seater school bus could also have 20 to 25 students standing in the aisle.

Clearly there are too many children, and not enough seats.

I find it staggering this is somehow acceptable. If anything goes wrong, like it did in Ruatoki on Monday, students on such a bus are at great risk of injury, or even death.

So, as with a lot of things, the bottom line is money.

But these are children we are talking about. Cost shouldn't even come into it.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce will not commit to changes such as compulsory safety belts on school buses. He wants to wait until police have finished their inquiry.

The Government must investigate putting seatbelts into school buses - and pay for it. Let's cut out the excuses and bureaucracy and find a way for it to happen.

What price do we put on a child's life?