On the school buses

There is an interesting debate going on in the Assembly at the moment about the safety of children travelling to school. Some of the discussion has arisen from the sad death of Stuart Cuningham Jones in a school bus accident and his family's campaign to ensure that there are seat belts on all school buses.

The bus that takes my children to school already has seat belts for each passenger, but the children won't use them. Those who do wear them during their first days in the new school are ridiculed by the other children. The culture of the school bus encourages (bullies even) children not to use the seat belts provided for their safety. I hope that the Assembly in its further discussions about this important topic will look at the school bus culture and at ways of encouraging students to use seat belts, having seat belts on school buses will not provide any safety for our children unless they are used.