Donegal Daily
  • News
  • Sport
  • Courts
  • Jobs
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Politics
  • Features
  • Donegal County Council News
Saturday 18°CSunday 19°C

Donegal Daily Donegal Daily

sponsor banner
sponsor banner
  • News
  • Sport
  • Courts
  • Jobs
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Politics
  • Features
  • Donegal County Council News
News

BELT UP OR LOSE BUS PASS STUDENTS ARE WARNED

written by Stephen Maguire January 11, 2011
FacebookTweetLinkedInPrint

The Donegal Road Safety Group is threatening to take school bus passes from secondary school students unless they belt up.

The moves comes after a spokesman for the group says it now has evidence that as few as just 10% of pupils in the county are wearing safety belts on school buses across the county.

And now Road Safety Officer Eamonn Brown said they may be forced to introduce some ‘tough love’ to ensure pupils belt up and remain safe.

“We have spoken with a number of youth groups and they have carried out some unofficial research into how many students are wearing belts on school buses.

“It’s a little better on primary school buses but the level of compliance on secondary school buses is very bad. The information we are receiving is that as few as one in ten pupils are actually wearing their safety belts on buses,” he revealed.

Mr Brown said regular checks are carried out by Donegal County Council and the Gardai in a bid to ensure the safety laws are being followed.

However he admitted that it is almost impossible to enforce the law.

“When we put up checkpoints, the pupils will hurry to put on their belts but as soon as we’re gone they’ll take them off again.

“We need to show them that it’s not cool to travel without having a seat belt on. We don’t want to even think about having another situation like we had in Meath a couple of years back when some pupils were killed there,” he said.

At present there are no figures available from the Road safety Authority on seat belt compliance levels amongst schoolchildren using buses.

And Mr. Brown added that, while it was a last resort, they may have to confiscate the school bus tickets from pupils who refuse to belt up in the short term.

“It’s very much a carrot and stick approach. But, while it will be a last resort, we will be forced to take bus tickets from pupils who continually refuse to wear their safety belts.

“It’s an option that’s there. We are loathe to go down that route but if it’s a case that it saves a life, then so be it,” he said.

BELT UP OR LOSE BUS PASS STUDENTS ARE WARNED was last modified: January 11th, 2011 by Stephen Maguire
FacebookTweetLinkedInPrint
Stephen Maguire

Stephen Maguire is the co-founder of Donegal Daily. He has worked as a reporter for almost 30 years starting locally with the Donegal Peoples Press before moving to the Mirror Group. He continues to contribute daily to national media outlets including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Independent, Irish Sun, Irish Mirror, Irish Star, the Daily Mail and the Examiner.

LEAVE A COMMENT

You may also like

Blaney family celebrates 100 years as Donegal...

3 hours ago

Rory Gallagher Festival gets green light for...

5 hours ago

Buncrana driver with no insurance, tax &...

5 hours ago

Donegal creatives invited to Artlink information evening

6 hours ago

Community fundraiser launched to support family of...

7 hours ago

Calling all Dohertys – O’Dochartaigh Clann Association...

8 hours ago

Letterkenny man said €1,500 of drugs was...

11 hours ago

Buncrana hit with water outages after burst...

11 hours ago

Three Donegal politicans back Oireachtas Heart and...

11 hours ago

Fantastic €10,000 total announced from fundraiser in...

12 hours ago
Advertisement
Advertisement

Donegal County Council

Facebook
Donegal County Council
Advertisement
Advertisement
Donegal Daily Jobs

Read More

  • News
  • Sport
  • Courts
  • Jobs
  • Sales & Services
  • Obituaries
  • Features
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Council News

Information

  • Contact Us
  • About
  • Advertise WIth Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions

Our Sites

Donegal Woman
Donegal Woman
Donegal Daily

© 2025 Donegal Daily. All rights reserved.
Website by owenod


Back To Top.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.