Media Release
8th August 2000
AMAQ tells Government to Buckle Up
Queensland Transport may have the deaths of school children on its conscience if seatbelts are not made compulsory in all buses throughout the state.
The warning comes from the Queensland Branch of the Australian Medical Association following yet another bus accident involving school children on Sunday night in the State's Far North.
AMAQ President Dr. Shane Sondergeld has repeatedly requested meetings with Transport Minister Steve Bredhauer to discuss this very issue, but has met with little success.
"The Transport Department set up a meeting between us, a senior political advisor and other senior bureaucrats but no Bredhauer," Dr. Sondergeld said to-day.
"The meeting involved them giving us a briefing on the safety of the school bus fleet in Queensland as well as their opinion that our school kids were fortunate to have such a safe and secure transport vehicle.
These sentiments do not hold water. Our kids are being crammed into these buses like sardines and every time they step on board, they are at risk of being killed if that vehicle is involved in an accident."
But, it is not just the AMAQ that is concerned about the safety of school children riding on Government-owned or chartered buses.
"We applaud the efforts of a group of parents in Beaudesert Shire for forming an action group on bus safety," Dr. Sondergeld said.
Like the Action Group, Dr. Sondergeld said the AMAQ also wanted to see more buses on the roads therefore reducing the number of children standing in the aisles.
"Even though buses have hand rails, how many primary aged children can reach them in the first place? Some are too high, or there are so many children piled into the one vehicle that there are not enough hand-rails for each child - it's appalling."
The issue is one close to Dr. Sondergeld's heart. He is a rural doctor with a young family and sees first hand the damage done by not "buckling up."
"I would never allow my children to travel unrestrained on a bus," he said.
"Is the Government waiting for a repeat performance of the 1987 tragedy near Cairns where eight people died and 12 were injured when there were no seatbelts on the bus? Or is its simply a case of out of sight, out of mind? Maybe Mr. Bredhauer should jump on a school bus in peak hours and find out what these children must endure for nine months of the year."
Queensland Branch of the Australian Medical Association
Doctors dedicated to the health of all Queenslanders