School van safety

The sight of a school van reduced to a burnt-out shell in Murree should be enough to dispel any illusion that Pakistan's existing approach to school transport is working. Children travelling to a school on Tuesday suffered burns after their van left the road and caught fire. Preliminary reports indicate that the vehicle was carrying more passengers than its designated capacity and did not have a fire extinguisher. The incident raises a basic question. Why are vehicles carrying children still allowed onto the road without the safeguards that could mean the difference between an accident and a catastrophe? This is hardly an unidentified danger. In Lahore only last month, traffic police announced a crackdown on overloaded school vans and prohibited LPG cylinders in vehicles transporting children. In Rawalpindi, previous directives have required school vans to be roadworthy, properly registered and equipped with fire extinguishers and first-aid kits. Drivers are supposed to possess valid licences and vehicles should have fitness certificates. The instructions exist. What is missing is the assurance that a child entering a school van every morning is entering a vehicle that actually complies with them. Notifications issued from government offices cannot provide that assurance. Pakistan needs to move towards a much stricter school-transport regime in which vehicles carrying children are treated differently from ordinary passenger vans. A Suzuki Bolan or similar vehicles pressed into school duty should not qualify merely because it can accommodate several passengers. School transport should meet a prescribed safety specification before it is permitted to operate. Passenger limits must correspond to the vehicle's actual capacity rather than the number of children who can be squeezed inside. Where modifications have been made, particularly to fuel systems, they must be inspected rather than accepted as an informal feature of commercial transport.