With most schools opening on June 1, the state transport authority has started its annual routine of inspecting school buses and vans to ascertain HOW SAFE IS THE SCHOOL BUSES to ferry students. This task needs to be complete by the Regional transport officers (RTOs) before the schools reopen.
“The elections delayed the process but we will complete inspection,” said a transport commissionerate official.” Inspections at Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur has already begun. But in Chennai, the work has been withheld because we are waiting for orders from the collector, added the official. Amidst the check, few vehicles have been found to be unsafe in the suburbs.
RTOs will check school buses as per the various features listed in the 2012 government order. Some of these which the buses must have include presence of functional fire extinguishers, sturdy flooring of the vehicle, horizontal grills on the windows, and racks to keep schoolbags.
The order was issued after a student of Class 2 from Zion Matriculation Higher Secondary School near Tambaram slipped through a gap in the school bus’s floor and came under the vehicle’s wheels. The Madras high court took up the incident seriously and asked the state government to amend rules to make bus rides safer for school students. The rules not just the school-owned vehicles but cover all vehicles too.
In the drive last year, the government found out that in every 15 school vehicles at least one was always unfit to ply on the road. Last year, the state transport authority after inspection found that 1,383 buses of the 21,522 did not meet the safety standards as prescribed by the TN Motor Vehicles (Regulation and Control of School Buses) Special Rules 2012.
Van owners say since the 2012 incident, the RTOs have become stricter. “Transport officers seem to have got a sudden clarity with rules after the accident,” said the President of Tamil Nadu School Van Drivers’ Association Vairasekhar. “Most buses are complying with the rules,” he added. Transport officials say van drivers have had more complaints of being late. “But operators are finding it difficult to find qualified conductors. The rules say conductors should have passed at least Class 10,” an official said.
While vehicles that are registered as school vans are inspected, those without registration as so but ferry school children are exempted. “They are checked during their fitness certification. But this certification does not keep in mind special features that a school vanrequires,” said Vairasekhar. Kids on footboards may lose free passes. The School Education Department had issued a circular regarding road safety rules to be followed by schools that are reopening on June 1. It said children in auto shouldn’t be overcrowded; they shouldn’t be travelling atop or on the footboard of buses; they should be taught not to walk or cross roads as a group holding hands; they shouldn’t be jumping over the dividers; should use pedestrian walkways and heed traffic signals. The advisory said children travelling on footboards must be advised in presence of parents and if not, their free bus passes will be revoked.
SOURCE: http://goo.gl/BTeFA7
