BBC News | UK | Belt up call for school trips

Tuesday, February 10, 1998 Published at 00:18 GMT

Belt up call for school trips
image: [ Scenes like this have led to calls for school vehicles to have seat belts ]

Scenes like this have led to calls for school vehicles to have seat belts

Safety campaigners are to push for strict legislation demanding all children on school trips wear seatbelts.

The call comes as the deadline expires for the installation of seatbelts on coaches and minibuses over 10 years old.

This means all vehicles carrying three or more children on organised school trips are required by law to have safety belts.

But the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents wants the legislation extended to make it compulsory that children actually wear the belts.

Government officials say there would be a problem in deciding who to hold legally responsible - the driver or teacher.

They say it is up to parents and schools to encourage children to belt up.

The demand for a tightening of the law follows a number of accidents involving school buses in which pupils have been killed or seriously injured.

[an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]


	Internet Links Dept of Transport - minibus and seatbelt legislation Rospa The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.