St John clinical director Dr Tony Smith said ambulance officers were often the first to arrive at the scene and see first hand the devastating impact of crashes especially when passengers were not wearing seatbelts. Our view that seatbelts on buses of an agreed definition should be compulsory remains unchanged; we believe safety belts should be worn to prevent fatalities and serious injuries including fractured and amputated limbs.
In 2018, St John urged the government to make wearing seatbelts compulsory on some bus services after two people died and many others were injured in a spate of accidents - but the calls fell on deaf ears.
Mother calls for seatbelts on school buses after multiple crashes
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Mother calls for seatbelts on school buses after multiple crashes
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Murchison Area school principal Andy Ashworth says it s ridiculous that school buses were not required to have seatbelts. Parents were met with a “distressing scene” when they rushed to the crash site, near the end of the school bus run, after one of the students was understood to have texted a parent, Ashworth said. The children couldn’t initially get out of the bus because it had crashed onto its left-hand side, blocking the door, he said. Drivers of vehicles passing the site, between Maruia Saddle Rd and Pea Soup Rd, helped the pupils get out, he said.