Measures To Be Taken Upon The Selection Of School Transportation Vehicle

The recent decision of Bombay Highcourt slamming the state for overlooking one of the perennial issues of school transportation which had claimed lives of hundreds of children in the past. The court has raised concerns for smaller vehicles which are less than 12 seats and auto-rickshaws which are permitted to be used as school transportation vehicles.

In smaller town and sub-urban areas most of the school going vans and electric vehicles are threat to the lives of children travelling due to its size, automotive capabilities and safety features. As parents we would have to ensure that we should not be overlooking such important aspects while choosing the transportation for our children. Here are few important ones.

Measures to be taken upon the selection of school transportation vehicle.

• Ensure that the transportation vehicle is a registered vehicle which has passed all the norms of the State RTO and is not a modified one. We cannot forget the Punjab incident which claimed lives of 40 innocent children as the vehicle a modified one. The old school bus crashed into a parked harvesting machine due to lack of balance
   
• In most of the cases schools offer transportation to students, in the cases where school is not facilitating the school transportation try to have a bigger vehicle instead of vans, autos and electric rickshaws. The smaller vehicles lack safety features thus making our children more vulnerable in case of any accidents.
   
• Check the credibility of the drivers as well as the attendee, to the tee! Ensure that they have a strong and credible background and are vigilant drivers. Also try to seek their updated ID proofs, DL and relevant papers such as Permit for school bus, Road tax registration and Insurance of the vehicle.
   
• Self-Inspect the bus at least once a month. This will give you a complete idea of important conditions inside the bus and you could report any sort of improvisations before it could do any harm to children travelling in the bus.
   
• Lastly train your child to report to you in case if the bus driver was driving fast or rash. A prompt action taken on time can defer any such incidents. Also take down relevant numbers of transportation incharge, school admin/principal to report such concerns on priority.