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Teen hurt in crash involving school bus; students not belted up
SINGAPORE: A Secondary Two student was injured when the mini—bus he was travelling in was involved in a three—vehicle accident on Monday morning.
The accident has once again raised the question of school bus safety.
Police said the bus was fitted with seat belts. But Channel NewsAsia understands that none of the eight students on the bus had belted up.
The bus was said to be travelling along Bukit Timah Road when it suddenly swerved to the right and into oncoming traffic at the Cavanagh Road junction, colliding with two cars.
The bus driver injured his knee and was sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Most of the students on the bus escaped unhurt, but Lai Junhao from Hwa Chong Institution was thrown forward and slammed his knee against the front seat. Junhao was not wearing a seatbelt at the time.
"Whenever I board a car or taxi, I’ll always buckle up. But I don’t know why, when I board a school—bus, I don’t even bother to see if there are seat belts or not," said Junhao, who now has to get around with crutches.
"... after this incident, if... there were seat belts, I definitely would buckle up, because I don’t want to injure myself again," he added.
Junhao’s father feels that seat belts should be mandatory on school buses. But on top of that, he said that private transport sector should be better regulated.
Mr Lai Tao said: "Everyone’s talking about the need to have seat belts in school buses. That’s important. But what’s more important is the mental state and fitness level of the bus driver."
Monday’s accident was the second in 12 hours involving buses. On Sunday evening, an SMRT bus crashed into a stationary private bus, injuring 15 people, including the SMRT bus driver.
In a separate accident on Monday morning, a trailer driver narrowly escaped death when the metal pipes he was transporting crashed into the passenger side of the driver’s cabin.
Police said the driver had stepped on the brakes suddenly when he was at the junction of Toh Guan Road and Toh Guan East Road, sending the pipes forward.
Police are investigating the incidents. — CNA/ir
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