School buses do not meet international standards

School buses do not meet international standards
By Ahmed Abdul Aziz KHALEEJ TIMES 1 May 2008

ABU DHABI — School buses in the country do not meet the international standards of safety, a top official has said.

In an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times, Mohammad Ahmed Al Shabibi, Head of Transport Office of the Administration Department at Abu Dhabi Education Zone (ADEZ), said this lack of the best safety standards puts the lives of students at risk.

The official was commenting on the spate of accidents involving school buses, and of the recent incident, in which a four-year-old boy died after being left alone in a school bus in Abu Dhabi.

Currently, there are 620 school buses in the emirate of Abu Dhabi and some 5 per cent of them have completed their service life but are still in use, Al Shabibi said.

“In fact, all of these buses fail to meet the international safety standards, as there are no seatbelts, back doors, and emergency exits,” said Al Shabibi.

“We can make the comparison with any school vehicle imported from the US or Japan and we can see the difference,” pointed out Al Shabibi.

As for the bus conductors, he stressed that the schools — both public and private — must ensure that they are qualified and well-trained.

Minibus for kids

The 61-seater school buses are for students aged above 8, he said. “However, these 61-seater buses shouldn’t be used for small kids aged 3-7. The schools must use minibuses with air-conditioning as in without the ACs, the temperature inside the closed buses may even reach 60 degrees. In such high temperatures, even an adult can die in 15 minutes. The kids wouldn’t be able to survive even 10 minutes,” Al Shabibi explained.