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As details emerge of the gruesome school bus fire yesterday that claimed the lives of 20 young children and 3 teachers, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Transport need to start to ponder on the revamping the rules governing use of vehicles used for transporting children.
The early afternoon incident yesterday (Tuesday) saw a 54-year-old bus that had changed its engine from Isuzu to Mercedes Benz and changed the fuel source to use natural gas vehicle (NGV).
The 3 teachers in the back were unable to open the ‘emergency exit’ doors and were reportedly covering the students when their charred bodies were found by the forensic team. Some of the older students said that they were unable to open the emergency doors in the bus that was gutted by fire.
The grim situation in which the 3 teachers were trying to cover the 20 students in the back of the bus clearly indicated that either the exit was not being able to be opened and/or they did not know how to open the door.
The lack of equipment within the bus to break open the glass windows is yet another flaw that has been overlooked by most people.
One can keep writing about what the problems were but what is more important is that the loss of these innocent lives should be a lesson for Thailand to look at revamping the use of ‘school buses’ a business, like all others are totally unregulated.
Opportunity For Change
Today the people are in solidarity with the innocent lives lost yesterday in Pathum Thai province and it may be the appropriate time to build a momentum to have clear rules and regulations in place for those looking to use school buses across the country.
Currently every van, bus or even at times Songtaew (ส่งแถว) are all being used where no safety measures whatsoever.
These so called make do ‘school buses’ have no safety features and over the years we all have heard many horror stories.
Anybody with a vehicle, be it Songtaew or a minivan (no matter how old or do they meet the safety standards) are able to operate the vehicle as a ‘school bus’.
Globally school buses have to meet certain standard and maybe it is time that Thailand takes a closer look at implementing rules to operate school buses.
Thailand could take a page from the likes of United States of America where school buses have specific colors, they have clear cut exit signs, they have signs that asks motorist to slowdown when overtaking them, these buses have clear STOP signs and motorists are forced to stop when a school bus stopes (just for the fear that the kids may run around and it is safer for motorist to stop).
With the momentum of the people now with the change in rules, such a move would be the right move by this government. It may be a painful process and may take time, but it would be the right move for the future generations to come.
