Alliance demands compulsory seat belts for school trips

12.01.00am GMT Sat 5th Nov 2005

Alliance Councillors have called for clarity on the use of seat belts in buses, particularly for schoolchildren, and demanded that buses with seat belts be made available for all school trips.

Party Organiser and Antrim Councillor Alan Lawther stated: "I find it totally unacceptable that we do not appear to have learned from the horrendous crash in County Meath within the past year which took five young lives. There appears to be a legal loophole allowing buses, including those carrying schoolchildren, not to have seat belts.

"The excuse for this seems to be the possibility of frequent stops, but on school trips this simply is not the case. I have contacted schools in the Templepatrick area and it has been indicated to me that although buses with seat belts are always requested for school trips, they are not always provided. Schoolchildren are being allowed to travel on round trips of

fifty miles or more without seat belts - have we learned nothing?"

Chair of the Association of Alliance Councillors, North Down Councillor Ian James Parsley, agrees: "I have raised this with Bangor and Holywood Road Safety Committees, and the response appears to be that seat belts are not compulsory because the law cannot be enforced. Although I am no fan of unenforceable laws, parents have every right to be angry if their children are being taken on trips without basic road safety requirements being met.

"I have raised this in response to consultation of the Department of Environment's Road Safety Strategy, and will ensure the Road Safety Council makes this a priority lobbying issue. Our children cannot be endangered in this way."

ENDS