Bill pushes safety standards for school buses

MANILA, Philippines - A bill pending in the House of Representatives seeks to set uniform safety standards for school buses to ensure the safety of pupils using them. House Bill 5465 seeks safety measures aside from strictly requiring passengers to wear seat belts. "It is essential that the State should prescribe minimum design standards for school buses for the safety of the student-passengers," author Rep. Cynthia Villar (Las Piñas) said in an article on the House of Representatives Web site (www.congress.gov.ph). Under the bill, the Secretary of Transportation should conduct programs that promote and encourage the use of seat belts in school buses. This is in consultation with other organizations advocating safety in transportation, and parent-teacher organizations. Also, the Secretary of Transportation should prescribe regulations requiring driver seat belts and passenger seat belts, including lap safety belts to other safety devices that would meet applicable government safety standards, for all passengers in any newly manufactured school bus. Owners of school buses not currently equipped with seat belts should be given a period of six months upon enactment of the bill into law, to install the necessary seat belts. School bus operators will not be allowed to acquire, maintain and renew registration unless they comply with this seat belt regulation. Villar said this bill should also encourage local governments to monitor the mandatory usage of seat belts in school buses. She urged them to develop and disseminate education materials on the importance of using seat belts, to passengers and drivers of school buses. The bill also provides that upon enactment into law, the Secretary of Transportation prescribe proficiency standards for school bus drivers who are required to possess a professional license to drive a school bus. Each school bus driver should demonstrate to his employer, the school, the licensing agency, or other persons or agency responsible for regulating school bus drivers their proficiency according to the standards prescribed by the measure. - GMANews.TV