With the schools set to reopen for the new academic year, the administration has reissued safety guidelines to be implemented in school vehicles for children.
The monitoring of the safety parameters laid down according to the guidelines of the Madras High Court is vested with the special monitoring committee at the district level.
The district committee is headed by the District Collector, and includes Road Transport Officer as its secretary, and additional Superintendent of Police, the Chief Educational Officer, the District Educational Officer, and the Motor Vehicles Inspector, as the members.
The vehicles should have only one door in the front, and well bolted; the footboard should not be slippery; the elevation of the footboard from the road shall not exceed beyond 25cm to 30cm; and the driver seat should have a separate enclosure.
The seats should be well bolted to the floor; the seats should have an enclosure to place book bags, and lunch bags; the floor board of the bus should be well bolted and fixed without any breach of safety; an emergency exit of 4ft x 5ft should be provided at the left side of the rear of the bus, and should be visible. The vehicles should have two fire extinguishers of 2 kg each at the rear end.
The vehicles should have in bold letters name of the school, contact number, e-mail id, name of the driver, his contact number, and also contact number of a police station. The vehicles should have reflectors in the front, rear, and on the sides. The driver of the bus should have a minimum of five years experience, and the assistant should have licence to work as conductor. The rear of the bus should display the administration’s toll free number 1077 for complaints.
On Saturday, many school vehicles were inspected.
