Negligence on Safety Management of School Buses at Early Childhood Education Centers - Recent survey found that children on board failed to use seat belts on 77.1% of school buses at child care centers

The Korea Consumer Agency (President: Dae-pyo Jung, www.kca.go.kr) recently conducted a survey on safety of 74 school buses of 48 child care centers nationwide and found that safety measures should be taken urgently to protect young children against possible accidents.

The Agency studied the condition of whether children on school bus transportation of a child care center are wearing seat belts and found that young children on board were not wearing seat belts on 37 buses (77.1%).

According to the operational standards for child care centers (of the Infant Care Act), school bus for infants and younger children under 36 months should be equipped with appropriate protection gears. However, only 29 buses (46.0%) were equipped with protective gears out of 63 buses for 41 child care centers nursing the infants and children above. Even those gears failed to meet the standards.

Also, although school bus transportation for child care centers should be reported and registered to the district police station, 13 buses (17.6%) out of 74 were unregistered.

Meanwhile, as a child is left alone on the bus, a serious safety accident may take place including suffocation. Therefore, the inside of a car should be seen and checked from outside with the naked eyes. However, 24 buses (32.4%) were found to have tinted back seat windows.

Based on the findings, the KCA is going to make a recommendation on child protection measures for school bus at child care centers to the relevant Government Authorities including the National Police Agency and and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.