Safety for School

One of the most remarkable traffic rules in the US refers to School Buses. When a school bus stops to pick up or offload children, it flashes its various lights and pulls out a mechanical arm that has the "STOP" sign on it. Traffic on both sides of the road has to come to a complete stop at least 300 m away from where the bus is. Violations to this rule are not given traffic tickets or fines but carry severe penalties including but not limited to revocation or suspension of the driving license.

I have forever been fascinated with this rule. Rush hour, no rush hour, busy roads or not, there is not one vehicle that does not stop. And I see children run to the bus or alight from it, safe.

And I think of children who do not have this right to safety. I remember my days as a child. And I remember the horrible accident I had once been witness to. Mom was late by a few minutes, the child alighted from the school bus and ran across the road without paying heed to the traffic that had no obligation to stop.

There are no similar rules in India or if there are, I have not seen any vehicle taking note of it. All I hear or read of in this respect, are young lives snubbed out under tires.

Children need protection. Children are the future. Children have rights. And yet, the largest democracy in the world cannot ensure the right to safety of a child in the simple scenario of her getting on and off the school bus.