The Ministry of Transport proposes that school buses be required to have warning lights or registered paint colors for identification, and their service life should not exceed 15 years.
According to the fifth draft of the Road Transport Law currently open for public comment, the Ministry of Transport stipulates that school buses must meet technical safety and environmental protection standards. For transporting primary and preschool students, the buses must have seat belts or age-appropriate seating. The windows must be transparent, allowing a clear view of the interior from the outside. Drivers must have two years of experience.
School transportation services can be organized by the educational institution itself or by a transportation company. Schools wishing to organize transportation must notify the local transportation authority, including: the route; pick-up and drop-off points; a list of vehicles and drivers; and images of the vehicles and their distinctive paint colors. If this information changes, the school must provide updated notification.
When transporting primary and preschool students, schools must assign one supervisor per vehicle to guide, supervise, maintain order, and ensure safety throughout the journey. If a vehicle with more than 24 seats is transporting preschool students, there must be two supervisors. Schools are responsible for training drivers and student supervisors to understand and correctly implement safety procedures.
School buses are entitled to priority in traffic flow management and regulation.
Students from Long Binh Tan Primary School (Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province) jump off a school bus on February 15, 2023. Photo : Phuoc Tuan
Regarding the specific details of the warning lights, a representative from the Vehicle and Driver Management Department (Vietnam Road Administration) stated that the warning lights must be illuminated, rotatable, mounted on the roof of the vehicle, or marked "school bus" so that other vehicles can identify it when it is in traffic.
In the United States, many states have strict regulations regarding school bus transportation. In California, school buses must be equipped with a child safety alert system. This is an alarm located at the rear of the bus, connected to the engine. When the engine is switched off, the driver must go to the back of the bus to turn off the device; otherwise, the alarm will sound to warn everyone. This ensures the driver cannot forget to check on the students on the bus. The states of Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin also have similar regulations.
Representatives from the Vehicle Management Department argued that installing sensor warning lights at the rear of the vehicle is not yet necessary due to the complexity of the technology. The draft regulations already require that before students disembark, both the driver and the supervisor must thoroughly check the vehicle to ensure no one is still inside.
The drafting agency plans not to mandate a common paint color for all school buses, but will instead recommend distinctive colors for easy identification. "This regulation aims to make school buses easily recognizable in traffic, so they can be given priority in traffic flow, better regulated, and safer," a representative from the Vehicle and Driver Management Department stated.
Explaining the series of new regulations, the Ministry of Transport stated that children's safety should be prioritized when participating in traffic. However, there are currently "no regulations" governing the management of school transportation by car, while this service is widespread, especially in large cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Because there are no regulations, many problems arise, such as unregulated services, substandard vehicle quality, and irresponsible drivers.
The above proposals aim to clearly distinguish school buses from other commercial transport vehicles, create a strict management mechanism for school buses, improve quality, ensure safety, and hold both the business unit and the school accountable for this activity.
Businesses have to add safety equipment, train drivers, and hire student supervisors, which increases costs. However, failing to do so would discourage businesses from investing in and upgrading vehicles and ensuring student safety. It would also make it difficult for people to choose safe, high-quality transportation.
School buses are parked in Helena, Montana, on August 20, 2021. Photo: AP
Over the years, many localities have experienced accidents involving school buses. In 2019, a 6-year-old boy from Gateway School (Cau Giay, Hanoi) died after being left unattended in a school bus for 9 hours. That same year, in Dong Nai, a bus carrying 16 first-grade students from school to their homeroom teacher's house had its door open, causing three children to fall onto the road.
In 2021, a school bus in Song Ma district (Son La province) was traveling on the road when its door suddenly swung open, causing three students to fall onto the road, one of whom died. In February 2023, the driver of a school bus in Bien Hoa city (Dong Nai province) reversed the vehicle before all the students had disembarked, resulting in the death of a third-grade girl.
Besides tightening regulations on school buses, the draft Road Law also proposes many new provisions, such as: allowing toll collection on all state-invested expressways; requiring periodic emissions testing for motorcycles; using the space under overpasses as parking lots; prohibiting double-decker sleeper buses from operating on mountainous roads of class 5 and 6; reducing night driving time for transport drivers, etc.
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