SEATBELTS will become compulsory on all school buses in Scotland under draft proposals which aim to take advantage of newly devolved powers over transport law.
The proposed Bill would would compel local authorities to ensure that any vehicles supplied for home-to-school transport contracts must be fitted with the safety devices.
If passed by the Scottish Parliament, seatbelts would become a legal requirement for vehicles carrying primary school aged children from 2018 and 2021 for secondary school transport.
It would not apply to other public transport bus services.
Enforcing a school bus seatbelt law has been a long-standing aim but the chance to introduce it in Scotland has only recently been devolved as part of the enhanced powers covered by the 2015 Scotland Act.
Gillian Martin, the SNP MSP for Aberdeenshire East who has lodged the bill at Holyrood, said she hoped it would encourage schoolchildren to think about their own safety.
Ms Martin said: “No one thinks twice about wearing seatbelts in cars since the historical step changes in UK legislation – and I would hope to see a similar attitude shift stemming from this Bill.
“With this Bill it is hoped that by children getting used to having to wear a seatbelt on contracted school buses, this will translate into their attention to their own safety as they access other public transport."
The issue previously hit the headlines when a Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of 17-year-old Lanark Grammar School pupil, Natasha Paton, in a school trip bus crash found that she may have lived if she had worn a seatbelt.
Although the coach was fitted with lap seatbelts, at least nine pupils, including Natasha, were not wearing them when the vehicle collided with a bridge during a snowstorm. The teenager was thrown from the vehicle and drowned.
More than half of Scotland’s local authorities already stipulate seatbelts must be fixed in dedicated school transport contracts, but the legislation will make the practice universal and legally binding.
A previous study Transport Scotland found that among approximately 2,120 dedicated school transport buses in Scotland, some 570 had no fitted seatbelts of any kind.
The new legalisation will not lay down whether lap-belts or three-point seatbelts must be used, however, as the powers to set technical specifications remain reserved.
Jack Kushner, of road safety charity, Brake, welcomed the move.
He said: “Seatbelts have saved thousands of lives over the years, and it is vital that drivers and passengers are always belted up.
"Wearing a seatbelt is one of the simplest ways that people can protect themselves in a vehicle, and it is crucial to ensure that others, particularly children, are always properly restrained."
Under existing legislation passengers aged 14 and over are responsible for wearing their own seatbelt while only drivers are responsible for ensuring that passengers under-14 use it.
Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA, said: “The law about wearing seat belts on buses also needs to be updated as it currently only applies to bus passengers aged 14 or over.
Passengers under 14 are not legally required to wear a seat belt because it is not clear who can be held legally responsible. In a car, the driver is responsible for child passengers, but we can’t expect a bus driver to know whether, for example, a pupil in row 20 has kept their seat belt on.”
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