Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 April 2005
232 Mr. Carey asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of school buses fully equipped with seat belts in all seats; the likely cost of providing seat belts in all passenger seats in school buses without them; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13805/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe information requested by the Deputy is not readily available.
There are currently in the region of 3,000 vehicles in use each day providing school transport services on behalf of my Department under the school transport scheme. About 20% of the fleet is made up of Bus Éireann school buses and the remaining 80% is owned by private operators on contract to Bus Éireann. My Department has already requested Bus Éireann to conduct a survey to establish the number of vehicles equipped with seat belts.
A discussion document on safer school buses published by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in 2002 stated, inter alia: it would not be feasible to fit seat belts with the existing seating configuration in most of the vehicles in use. A schoolbus must meet certain engineering requirements if it is to be safely fitted with seat belts. The structure of the bus itself must be sufficiently robust to withstand the potential loading imposed by occupied seatbelts in the event of an accident. The seats will also impose additional stresses on the bus, particularly on the floor structure. Many of the existing vehicles in the schoolbus fleet, particularly the older ones would not meet the engineering requirements for structural and seat strength without significant retro-fitting. The age of part of the fleet is such that the modifications would not be economically viable. Estimates put the cost of engineering modifications at about €19,000 per vehicle, with the retro-fitting of belts costing much the same again.
