Poe pushes for school bus safety

Sen. Grace Poe FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Grace Poe has filed a bill that will push for the safety of school children in school buses.

The proposed “School Bus Safety Act of 2013” mandates that seatbelts be installed for student passengers of  school buses and also for the promotion of seat belt use, she said in a statement.

“We must provide utmost protection to our school children by ensuring basic safety standards for all school buses nationwide,” Poe said.

“It is the objective of the State to promote public safety in the transportation of passengers, particularly school children. It is, thus, essential that the State shall prescribe minimum design standards for school buses for the safety of student passengers,” Poe said in her explanatory statement of the bill.

In Section 5 of the bill, Poe requests that the Department of Transportation and Communications to “prescribe regulations requiring seat belts and passenger seat belts for each sitting position in any newly manufactured school bus” not later than a year that the Act should be passed.

The bill also requires the promotion of seat belt use in school buses and that the DOTC should consult with “appropriate safety organizations” and parent-teacher organizations to encourage the use of seat belts.

Under the bill, the DOTC will be the one to prescribe proficiency standards for school bus drivers who are required to possess a professional license to operate a school bus.

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