A thorough mechanical inspection for school buses is needed

The country on Monday woke up to unpleasant news of a school bus that swerved off the road and ended up in a valley while sloping down on Rebero hill in Kicukiro District. The bus was carrying children to a private school not far from where the accident took place. At least 25 people – mostly children – were injured in the accident and these include the driver and a teacher who accompanied the learners. Fortunately, no fatality was recorded from the incident and most of the victims had been discharged by Monday afternoon according to reports from the different hospitals where they were taken. The cause of the accident was not immediately divulged as police were still probing the matter but it is important to note the sorry mechanical condition that most school buses are in. Most of the buses that are used to ferry our children to and from schools are old and probably should not be on our roads, let alone being entrusted with the lives of our children. Some of the owners of these buses have motivated the deployment of old buses to do the school runs saying that the exclusivity that is assigned to this function makes it economically untenable to have new vehicles in the pool. According to police regulations, school buses are supposed to only drop children to school and pick them up, and cannot be engaged in other activities. However, under no circumstances should economic interests take precedence over the safety of our children. It is therefore important that a targeted operation is mounted to check the roadworthiness of school buses in their totality. Addressing this issue should also go hand in hand with tackling the problem of congestion on some of the school buses where you find children packed way beyond the recommended number of passengers, which exposes them to more risk. Also worthy attention are the drivers entrusted with this task. They should be fully vetted to ensure they are up to this rather delicate task.

Opinions

A thorough mechanical inspection for school buses is needed