Safety of the school children is primary

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The rural school bus Initiative by the Government of Jamaica has got mixed reactions from the public. Many of the buses are left-hand drive vehicles. As a citizen of Jamaica, I wish to add my voice to the conversation. My sole concern has to do with the safety of our children.

I took careful note of an article by Dr Michael Abrahams, ‘Why left-hand drive school buses place our children at risk’ published on July 29. Dr Abrahams in the article cited at least two studies done in the UK and Sweden which found that road fatality and injury risk increased by 30 per cent where ’wrong-hand drive vehicle’ are introduced to these regions. In the case of Jamaica, the ‘wrong-hand drive vehicles’ are those known as left-hand drive vehicles.

We have been experiencing a chronic problem of road safety to the point where we have for several years surpassed 400 road deaths in a year, although we dipped below 400 road fatalities last year, when the figure was 365 deaths. Considering this, I find it difficult to believe that the Government properly considered the safety implication of procuring left-hand drive vehicles. I believe every parent would prefer to wait on a bus service that has less safety risk than that presented by the left-hand drive buses.

In my view, the least that should be done is that no bus is put on the road without the complete retrofitting (so children enter on the left side) and as well that the drivers are given special training, to include safety protocols in operating left-hand drive vehicles to carry children. Hopefully with this done, actions will also be taken to phase out the left-hand drive vehicles as soon as possible.

DAVID ALLEN