Muscat: To avert accidents, students should not walk in front of the bus after alighting and must raise their hands if they want to cross the road so that drivers can see them, said a top Royal Oman Police (ROP) official.
While speaking exclusively to the Times of Oman, Major Mudar Al Mazrouei, said: “The students should not move after alighting from the bus till the bus has moved on.”
He said that each student must be seated inside the bus and should not allow any part of his body outside the bus window.
The students should not even move inside a moving bus and stay away from the bus doors, the Major said.
This year, an unfortunate accident took place on the very first day of the school academic year 2022/2023, when a 16-year-old student, Hoor, was run over by another vehicle while crossing the road in Muscat Governorate, leading to her death.
The Director of Muscat Education Department said that initial indications indicated a clear negligence on the parts of both the bus driver as well as the car driver who mowed down the girl.
Exactly three days later, on 7 September 2022, another 7-year-old student in the Wilayat of Izki in Al Dakhiliyah Governorate, was hit by a bus immediately after he alighted from his school bus.
Although he was transferred to the hospital in a stable condition with some injuries, the incident calls for a rethink on the traffic conditions in the Sultanate.
In another unfortunate accident, Issa Al-Habib Al-Ashi a mathematics teacher, in one of the schools in Al-Dakhiliyah Governorate, became the victim of a painful run-over accident on Sunday. He died at the accident site.
Mourning his demise, Al-Khalil Bin Abdullah School for Basic Education for grades (10,11,12), in Fanja region, Al Dakhliyah Governoratesaid: “The educational family at Al-Khalil bin Abdullah School for Basic Education mourns its deceased teacher Issa Al-Habib Al-Ashi, the mathematics teacher in the school.”
“May God have mercy on him, put him in his vast gardens, and inspire his family and relatives patience and solace,” the statement added.
The Director of Muscat Education Department said: “The Royal Oman Police intensified on the first day of the academic year 2022/2023 its effort for the safety of students through the deployment of police on all road courses, bridges and crowded places as also in front of some schools to ensure smooth traffic and to prevent traffic accidents. This is a continuous campaign not only on the first day of school, but throughout the academic year to ensure the safety of the students.”
He said the Royal Oman Police, represented by the Directorate General, Traffic, oversees the safety of about 5,000 to 7,000 male and female students in the Governorate of Muscat alone. The enormity of the task can well be assessed considering the fact that this number multiplies manifold when students in all the governorates of the Sultanate are taken together. Still the ROP is doing the best to contain the recurrence of such mishaps.
“There are 11 traffic institutes distributed over 11 governorates of the Sultanate. The Royal Oman Police receives all school bus drivers to educate them on safe driving, student pick-up and drop-off points and assuring themselves that buses are empty after all students have disembarked, either at the schools or their homes. It is a two-week course for the drivers which includes conditions that must be applied to students inside the bus, etc,” he said.
Al Mazrouei said a large-scale campaign is carried out by the Royal Oman Police, represented by the Directorate General Traffic, which spreads awareness messages on social media, in schools and institutes for students, school bus drivers, road users and students’ families. The awareness campaign will continue until the end of the school year 2022/ 2023, he said.
Besides these security measures, Al Mazrouei said, police patrols are deployed at crucial places, including secondary schools and schools for students of the first cycle who were transferred from private schools to government schools, road intersections, roundabouts, bridges and crowded places.
He appealed to the road users and motorists to exercise extreme caution while driving their vehicles, not be distracted by phones and focus on driving, especially in residential areas and in front of schools.
Besides, the Royal Oman Police is conducting a series of training courses for 15 school bus drivers registered with the Ministry of Education, he said.
The training for bus drivers is being conducted all governorates of the Sultanate so that the bus drivers are subjected to a series of training lectures on better use of the bus, onboarding or disembarking students, rules regarding seating inside the buses. Besides, they are made conversant with other safety tips.
The Major said the drivers are awarded certificates only after successful completion of the two-week course, including theoretical and practical papers. Those who do not pass, are given a transit certificate. After this, the names are submitted to the Ministry of Education so that they can be officially enlisted for transporting the students.
Eng Ali Ahmed Al Barwani, former CEO of the Oman Road Safety Foundation also spoke to Times of Oman about road safety, saying: “We received the news of the death of the female student, Hoor, who was in the tenth grade, with sadness and sorrow, and we are surprised by the recurrence of such traffic accidents. We cannot say this of God, rather, we must study the causes and find out where the problem lies.”
Al Barwani continued: “The onus for the mishap may rest on the school bus driver, the other vehicle driver, the student and the students’ families. Nobody should shirk responsibility and see to it that accidents involving school students do not recur in the future. The driver of the vehicle must ensure that the vehicle is empty after the students have disembarked, whether at their homes or at their schools.”
Al Barwani stressed that road users and motorists should pay attention while driving their vehicles and not be busy with anything else like the phone, radio or eating and drinking while driving. They should also reduce speed in residential areas and in front of schools, he said.
Source: Times of Oman