national

Japan to mandate safety devices in 44,000 buses after child's death

30 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

30 Comments
Login to comment

Good I guess.

Wonder what the devices are

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Safety devices? Government just like to spend more money on problem.

All you need just to walk back to back of that bus, all commercial bus in Japan do that.

15 ( +23 / -8 )

sakurasukiToday  

Safety devices? Government just like to spend more money on problem.

All you need just to walk back to back of that bus, all commercial bus in Japan do that.

agree 100%

8 ( +16 / -8 )

An unnecessary solution to a tragedy caused by human error and incompetence.

Sounds like the perfect solution to line the pockets of some company close to the government.

13 ( +18 / -5 )

Is a safety device really needed? Are Japanese really that undependable and unreliable?. All they have to do is walk to the back of the bus & check if there are any children left on the bus. It's not like there are any hiding spots on the bus. :-(

7 ( +14 / -7 )

@sakurasuki,

You nailed it.

Those kindergarten buses aren’t even that big. It would probably take less than 20 seconds to walk back there and check there weren't any more kids on board.

Sounds like a bit more cronyism going on with the government almost certainly going to give the contract to a ‘well connected’ company.

9 ( +13 / -4 )

manuals

says it all..... daer oh dear, what a sad state of affairs.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

I'm sure the solution to the problem is just to use your eyes and check no students are left in the bus after parking it. It's really that simple.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Very late in comparison with other developed countries but at least it is being done now. Just trusting people will do things properly is what has caused deaths until now. Having a manual and training people to check the bus every time is of course good, but people forget things, make mistakes, in cases like this where a mistake can cost a life there is nothing wrong with having an extra layer of safety using a device that can let people know there is someone inside of the bus or that can let the child go out.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Very good, it is necessary..

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

So how do these safety devices work? Good journalism much?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

They don't mention the morning roll call and the rule to call parents if their child is not attending. If this rule had been implemented, they would have realized their mistake upon calling the parents.

I thought all daycares do this but it seems not.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

There are usually two adults on the bud. The driver and the teacher. If the teacher could sit at the back of the bus, instead of the front, the driver would be the first off, to ensure the kids safety and the last off would be the teacher. Checking and helping any kids. Unfortunately and naturally, the teachers sit at the front chatting to the driver. The teacher and the driver should check with each other. Cost is zero. And probably just as effective. Relying on tech isn’t always that great.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

How about when the vehicle is stopped and the door is locked it can be opened from the inside?

this mandate sounds expensive and contracts are possibly linked to LDP family.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I safety device that they could implement right now, would be checking the bus after the kids get off. It's simple and only takes one minute.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. The reliance on technology might make staff/teachers more lax and not check the bus as thoroughly.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Oh boy. Are you really telling me it is beyond the abilities of a human to check whether there is a child sat on a small bus? I guess as of whenever these get introduced, the teachers can just shift blame to the technology when a kids dies.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Soon they will ask for a device that checks the device.

Then to add another person to monitor.

Common sense never reaches the incompetence of LDP. Cronism does a lot though, with a device that isn't even described while its unit price is defined !

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Only a cost up up to 8 billion yen for taxpayers, a drop in a bucket.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Oh boy. Are you really telling me it is beyond the abilities of a human to check whether there is a child sat on a small bus? 

No, but humans make mistakes, and as a result 2 kids died in 2 years. 2 kids too many.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

An unnecessary solution to a tragedy caused by human error and incompetence.

So what is your solution?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Every child getting on the bus is given a tag by the driver. When exiting the child gives the tag back to the driver. The class teacher make a morning role call. If a child is absence the head is informed who contacts the parents to explain.

Before leaving the bus the driver checks it and leaves the door open.

Public cost of the safety devices ¥8,800,000,000

¥8.8 billion.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

how much of money to be thrown away again?

how abt to do job in old fashion style?when kids left bus just walk at the end of bus and check?

1 min max to do so.no "device" needed just common sense!!!!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Or……just not hire lazy azz workers.

It takes all of 1 minute to walk to the back of the bus to see if anyone or anything has been left behind……..

Any competent person could do it .

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

@shogun36

Or……just not hire lazy azz workers.

Have you ever looked after 1 child? Try looking after 30 at once... I wouldn't call them lazy. What an asinine comment.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Incredible govt waste.

Do the math and thats the equivalent of 88 million dollars, although they always give a conservative estimate meaning it'll cost taxpayers well over 100 million dollars to install some nondescript "safety devices" which will surely be useless and absolve daycare workers from doing their duty;

a 10 second walk up and down the aisle.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Educating responsible adults would be more effective

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites