Parents urge stronger measures in Oman to prevent school bus accidents

Muscat: Parents are demanding that stringent measures to prevent further fatal accidents on roads as school bus drivers caused the deaths of seven school children in the last 22 months in different parts of Oman.

The latest such accident happened last Thursday, when three school children died in a road accident after a bus driver lost control and hit a truck coming from the opposite direction in Saham in the Batinah region.

“This is unacceptable,” said Jokah Al-Esri, “ I know one of the parents of the school children who died in the bus accident. I know how she feels. We must stop these school bus accidents from ever happening again. These drivers are driving too fast and too recklessly.”

Other parents of school-going children urged the Royal Oman Police (ROP) to introduce minimum age of school bus drivers.

“We cannot have drivers who have no experience driving school children. There should be a minimum experience of at least five years for them to be eligible to be a school bus driver. Most of these drivers are in their early 20s and they don’t have much experience,” Shamsa Al-Hosni, another parent, told Times of Oman.

On April 4, three school teachers died in Al Wusta after a school bus veered off the road.

For many years, the ROP has maintained a campaign for safe driving and the rate of road accidents has declined by 33 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020. But parents say more must be done.

“We need cameras in the bus to monitor drivers. My son says their driver sometimes is on his mobile phone while he is driving the bus. If there are cameras on board, the drivers will be caught by providing evidence,” Salim Al-Jashmi, told Times of Oman.

School bus drivers have been spotted driving recklessly on the roads, too.

“I was coming from work and saw this school bus repeatedly overtaking on a single carriageway. It is not the first time I have seen bus drivers overtaking carelessly while there are many school children on aboard,” said Mohammed Al-Tobi.

School children also have their own horror stories about their bus drivers.

“My bus driver eats and drinks while driving the bus. We are scared because he has only one hand on the wheel. He also drives too fast but we are scared to tell him,” Hamed Al Harthi, told Times of Oman.