The Briefing Room

Richard Murray will never forget the day his daughter was run over. The year was 1968 and she was seven years old. It was the beginning of the school term and Kristine had begged to be able to walk home from the bus by herself. It was supposed to be so easy – she was to get off the bus and wait for the monitor to take her to the other side of the road where she could now walk the 100 metres to the front gate without her mum or dad, just like the bigger kids. But nothing went according to plan that afternoon. The bus was early, the monitor had not arrived and there was no one to guide the children across the busy street. Even Richard, who had hoped to spy on her from behind a nearby tree, did not make it in time. When the bigger kids made a run for it, Kristine followed them. But she was not fast enough. She ran straight into the path on an oncoming vehicle.
Kristine was lucky. She survived. But every year in New Zealand, one child is not so fortunate.
Of the 120,000 Kiwi kids who take the bus to school every day every year, one child will be fatally injured by a passing motorist as he or she gets on or off the bus. This year, so far, we’ve been lucky.
In 2004, it was 15 year-old Katie Hunkin, hit in Te Puke by a four-wheel drive as she crossed the street immediately after getting off the bus. The year before it was eight year-old Lucy Waring, struck as she ran out into the road, in full view of her mother on the other side, just after her bus had driven away. In 2002, it was seven year-old Zachary Hide, killed as he ran to catch the bus as it waited for him on the other side of Waipu Cove Road in Waipu.
While current legislation allows motorists to pass a stationary school bus at a speed not exceeding 20 kilometres per hour, some say, when it comes to school bus safety laws in New Zealand, this is not enough. North American-style “Stop arms” on both sides of the bus along with bold flashing lights, alerting motorists that students are boarding and disembarking, should be made mandatory. And, they say, motorists in both directions should not be allowed to pass a stationary bus at all.
Kym Small came to New Zealand eight years ago after marrying a Waimate crop farmer. The mother of school aged twins, she began campaigning for tougher school bus laws after the death of a neighbourhood boy – killed while running to catch the bus. Not only does she want stop arms, flashing lights and illegal passing enforced, she’s also pushing for New Zealand’s 2,100-plus school buses to be equipped with seatbelts.
“They call me the Erin Brockovitch of school buses in Waimate”, she jokes in a strong American accent. But, she says, the issue is far from a laughing matter. “The laws need to be changed, children’s lives are at risk.”
The Land Transport Safety Authority does not agree. Because of New Zealand’s “generally good safety record of school buses”, there are no proposed changes to the current legislation. The argument for stop arms is not strong enough and, it says, the cost of mandatory installation and maintenance of flashing lights on all school buses unjustified. While the 20km/h speed limit could have been amended as part of the draft Land Transport Road User Rule signed on December 6th last year by the Minister of Transport Safety, it was not.
Seatbelts have been a source of debate in many countries in recent years and New Zealand is no different. Those in favour argue that passengers are safer when restrained, especially in side impact and roll-over crashes. Children, they say, are also better behaved when properly seated and thus less likely to cause driver distraction, which may in turn lead to less accidents.
Those against it, however, claim a myriad of tests show lap-¬belted occupants are at greater risk of serious head and neck injury than unbelted passengers in frontal collisions, the most common form of bus accident. Transport Canada believes lap and shoulder belt combinations are no safer because unless properly restrained, slackness causes injury. The New Hampshire School Transport Association says that because buses are higher off the road and therefore have a lower impact zone than most vehicles, wearing a seatbelt is ineffective in the more common school bus crash scenarios. In catastrophic accidents, wearing a seatbelt may even hinder the swift evacuation of passengers. And even if seatbelts were installed on all school buses, there is simply no way to ensure they will be used correctly, if at all.
Canada and Australia do not require the use of seat belts on school buses. Nor do most US states. All mini buses and coaches in the UK on the road since October 2001 must be outfitted with manufacturer installed seat belts. Buses that transport children to and from school are exempt.
In 2002, New Zealand introduced the Seatbelt Rule, making it mandatory for seatbelts to be fitted in all mini buses (Classes MD1 and MD2) manufactured after September 2003. “This will gradually flow into the school bus fleet”, says the LTSA.
But the bottom line, no matter what country you look to, is money. The New Zealand Bus and Coach Association (BCA) estimates the cost of outfitting seatbelts in buses to be at least NZ $22 Million. But while this figure may seem feasible in comparison to the approximate US $900 Million needed in America, there’s a catch. Unlike their overseas counterparts, not all Kiwi youngsters actually get to sit on the way to school. According to the BCA, one third of all passengers transported to school are carried as “standees”. Should the government enforce seat belts on all buses, it would only make sense that all those standees were required to sit – creating the demand for an extra 700 buses nationwide. And the price tag? $60 Million.
Restrained or not, taking the bus is the safest way to get to school in this country. In the ten years from 1993 to 2002, four children have been killed on the bus versus 23 in cars (between 7-9AM and 3-5PM). In that same time period, just 40 have been hurt on the bus compared to the 1,106 children chauffeur-driven.
Walking to school is also more hazardous. The BCA reports children are 38 times more likely to be injured and nine times more likely killed as pedestrians than if they travelled by bus.
But that doesn’t mean all bus operators agree that we are doing all we can for our children. Even though, according to the BCA’s Mark Stockdale, the only legal requirement imposed on school bus operators “is that it must display a yellow fluorescent “SCHOOL” sign at the front and rear”, there are some who have gone the extra mile.
Ritchies Transport in Timaru, along with the Timaru District Council, is currently testing front and rear warnings on school buses which incorporate a “Children Walking” symbol with flashing lights activated when the bus driver opens the doors.
In 2003, Ritchies Oamaru installed new signs on all its school buses encouraging motorist to slow down near stopped buses. Manager Jill McIntyre, says the “20 past a stationary School Bus” notices have created quite a stir. But while the impact on rural roads has been huge, highway traffic “seems to have taken little, or no notice.”
And last year students at Wakatipu High School launched their own initiative, Project 20K, which saw 20 km/h reminder notices displayed on all Queenstown school buses. Why did they do it? Because, says 18 year old Student Council Chairperson Olivia Hill, the older students had noticed the law was not adhered to and were concerned for the safety of their younger classmates.
So, is the law ignored? It would seem so, according to the many police officers who habitually field complaints relating to vehicles speeding past stopped school buses. According to Sergeant Dave Ryan of the Oamaru Highway Patrol, “many motorists don’t realise the speed is 20 km/h – or that it applies to both directions.”
Do the signs work? “Speed has reduced by using the signs although some motorists are slow to learn”, says Ryan, “many police officers are also asking if 20 km/h is a feasible speed on a state highway.”
Kym Small certainly doesn’t think so. She doesn’t think any speed – on either highway or rural road – is feasible at all. And while every other initiative would come at considerable cost to the bus operators or New Zealand taxpayer, changing the law - making it illegal to pass a stationary bus loading or unloading children – appears to be the least expensive option to all concerned.
She cites similar legislation in the in the United States, implemented in the 1970’s, where vehicles in both directions must stop for a stationary school bus. Children then cross the road at the front while the bus waits. Once the children are safely on the other side, the bus may carry on its journey.
“School buses only run one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon for 40 weeks of the year”, says Small, “Is it so much to ask people to stop for their kids?”
The LTSA believes it is. “A lower limit, or requiring traffic to stop completely, would not significantly improve the nominal risk.”
“Evidence shows it wouldn’t reduce the risk of children being killed, and it would be very difficult to enforce” spokesperson Andy Knackstedt told the New Zealand Herald in 2001.
But, one would have to argue, so is the current limit. In the eight years to June 2005, only 92 infractions for excessive speed past a stopped bus were issued in the whole of New Zealand.
The rule applies for the length of the bus only, there is no safety margin either at the front or the rear of the bus. The offence takes place only if that bus is stopped “for the purpose” of embarking or discharging young passengers and the “‘difficulty for motorists is determining when this is not the case”, states Marie Hrstich at the LTSA. And because it takes place for such a short piece of road – that being the length of the bus – and over a small period of time – the two to three seconds it takes to pass - catching an offender in the act can be difficult.
“I would imagine it being easier to enforce a law if vehicles had to come to a stop”, says one senior police official, who did not wish to be identified.
Nevertheless, maintains the LTSA, “The 20km/h speed limit is consistent with protecting children.”
But when six year-old Aaron Jones ran to the front of the bus to cross the street and into the path of a truck in the Hawkes Bay in September 2001, it proved fatal. Police confirmed the driver was within the speed limit and crash reconstruction corroborate their findings. Yet the little boy still died.
Ask Richard if he thinks the 20 km/h speed limit is consistent with protecting children and he will tell you it’s not. He says that when Kristine was hit all those years ago, the vehicle that smashed into her was travelling well below 20 km/h – “a crawl’s pace” – and still, it was not able to stop in time.
Ask Kristine, now 44 years old, and she will show you the scars to prove it.
Many doctors also disagree, including Dr Philip Morreau, a paediatric surgeon at Starship Children’s Hospital. “There is no doubt that a car hitting a child at less than 20 km per hour can seriously injure it or kill it.”
“Surely the parent who backs over his own child in the driveway is not driving over 20 km an hour” says Richard, “and we know how fatal that can be.”
But the Minister for Transport Safety was not convinced. “The government has no proposals at this time to require other vehicles to come to a complete stop around a school bus” said Harry Duynhoven before signing the new Road User Rule in December 2004. Rule 61001, which re-instates the 20 km/h speed limit when passing a stopped school bus, came into force 27 February, 2005.
Requiring traffic to stop for stationary buses is not practical, say most New Zealand lawmakers and because we have such a good safety record, the legislation is not in need of change. Others are worried about the possibility of motorists, particularly in rural areas, getting stuck behind a slow schoolbus for its entire journey, unable to legally pass it while it is stopped and unable to practically pass it once it is moving again. But those fears could be dealt with by making it a requirement for drivers to wave traffic on once the bus doors had closed and the bus itself was preparing to move
It may not seem like a lot. One child out of 120,000, killed by a passing vehicle either getting on or off the bus. But in the United States, the average number of children killed over the past ten years is six. Out of 23.5 Million – a student passenger population 196 times the size of New Zealand.
“Stopping for a school bus takes a few seconds ”, says Small, “it’s a shame some people think their lives so important that ten seconds of their time is more valuable than a child’s life”.

Guidelines for New Zealand school children: After getting off a bus, students must wait on the side of the road until the bus has moved at least two power poles away, so that they have a clear view of the road before crossing – Min of Education info
According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Transportation, the most dangerous part of riding the school bus is the loading and unloading of passengers where 78% of all school bus related fatalities occur. Of that 78%, 53% of children are killed as result of being hit by a vehicle as they get on or off the bus. (Traffic Safety Facts, 1999, U.S. Department of Transportation).
In New Zealand, the only legal requirement to distinguish a school bus is that a school bus being used to carry children to or from school must display a yellow fluorescent “SCHOOL” sign front and rear, the rear sign being mounted at least 1.5m from the ground, in the centre or to the right. The sign must be 825mm wide by 300mm tall – Traffic Regulations 1976
The State of NY does allow standees on yellow school buses
Most fatalities occur at the end of the day – in a recent Australian report, 19 of the 22 children fatality injured were killed as they got off the bus after school. In the US, 73% of pedestrian fatalities occurred after school, 41% between 3-4PM. (http://www.atcouncil.gov.au/schoolbus.htm), www.nhtsa.dot.gov