Youth Talk

Being a Year 13 student I have grown accustomed to the occasional ‘hair-raising’ experiences endured on the bus to and from home to school in Isa Town. However, when our bus recently introduced a new driver, it quickly felt to me that the general safety concern for the child passengers fell from low to zero.

Now, I am not usually a person to complain, but when I began to fear for the safety of all of us on the bus, I had to speak out.

The single biggest threat most of us face living in Bahrain is becoming a road accident statistic. The World Health Organisation’s crash statistics for the region compared to the UK and Europe are alarming. So who takes responsibility to monitor the safety performance of the ride to school? Is it the bus companies, the school boards, the police or the education authorities? This appears to be somewhat of a grey area.

Back to our new driver; on his first day he was constantly smoking in front of the children – the smell of smoke in the bus was unbearable and annoyed us immensely. We went home stinking of smoke. Not a good start.

Then a day later, he decided to have long conversations on his mobile, with the device held to his ear with one hand, whilst steering erratically with his other hand.

After swerving to miss an oncoming vehicle, he crashed into bins on the side of the road after mounting the pavement, causing much anxiety to all those on board.

I wasn’t having it. I spoke to him abruptly and in no uncertain terms, insisted he get off his phone and that he keep his eyes focused on the road ahead.

A good outcome, I hear you say? Not for me. The very next day I found that I had become the first student in my school to be banned by the bus company. My crime was ‘shouting at the driver’.

On reflection, although I felt let down, I am content not to be riding on this particular bus anymore.

It is apparent to me that the safety of young passengers did not appear high enough up anyone’s agenda or list of priorities to take any action, apart from banning me.

However, I would encourage all parents to investigate their own child’s transport safety and report any misgiving to the school promptly. Just because they hop on their bus to school does not mean they are being properly cared for.

I am attempting to lobby the concerned authorities, with the support of fellow students, to raise the profile of this ‘grey area’. It would be interesting to note whether anyone of authority comments on this Youth Talk column.

Finally, I believe that all drivers of school buses should be qualified, accredited and adhere to a clear ‘no phone use whilst driving’ policy, unless it’s a hands-free device, with formal written assurances offered to students, parents and schools.

Apparently some bus companies ‘guarantee safety’. In my experience, they shouldn’t make promises they clearly cannot keep.