Cape Town - Golden Arrow Bus Services management together with Maitland councillor Cheslyn Steenberg are pleading with both parents and school principals to educate youngsters misbehaving on buses.
This after two pupils were left with head and leg injuries on Friday when they fell out of a moving bus en route to Maitland from Khayelitsha.
The two were apparently play-fighting near the emergency window at the time of the incident.
According to Steenberg, at about 7.30am on Friday a bus, which appeared to be full, came to a halt at the corner of Vliegtuig Avenue and Sunderland Street as it was driving into Factreton.
The pupils playing and leaning against the emergency exit window fell out, sustaining injuries.
“I can just thank God for grace. It again reminds me that life is short. I urge all school principals within ward 56 to please engage your learners and explain to them the dangers of being playful in a moving vehicle.
“Moreover, I will write to Golden Arrow to request that no scholar buses be overloaded because overloading contributes to incidents like these,” said Steenberg.
Denying the allegations of the bus being full, Gabs said they reviewed the footage from the bus and it showed that it was less than 40% full and had entire rows of empty seats.
Throughout the trip some of the schoolchildren were seen playing quite actively with each other while others were seated as per their conditions of carriage.
“Golden Arrow can confirm an incident in which two schoolchildren fell out of the bus after dislodging an emergency window. The bus was less than 40% full and had entire rows of empty seats.
“We have been made aware of reports that overcrowding contributed to this incident, we would like to state for the record that that is completely false.
“More importantly, however, we would like to plead with parents to educate their children about the dangers of disobeying conditions of carriage and ignoring rules that are there for their own safety. Incidents of this type do not need to occur.
“Emergency windows are designed to give way when pressure is applied, but if these children had been seated, they could not have fallen out of the bus even if they managed to push out the window.”
siviwe.melapi@inl.co.za