New School Transport Safety Campaign Launched

The Minister for Education and Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, have announced a new school transport safety campaign – Buster and the Belt-Ups.

The campaign will feature animated characters in a new safety video to be distributed to national schools and posted to YouTube and buseireann.ie.

Schools will also receive packs that include posters, seat belt safety certificates, activity sheets and stickers. These promotional materials will be distributed in Irish to Gael Scoileanna.

All parents of primary school children – who are carried via the School Transport Scheme – have also received letters regarding the new initiative which encourages them to watch the safety video with their kids, and embrace the reward chart of Belt-Up stickers which are earned every time their children wear a safety belt on school transport.

The new campaign – which aims to engage primary school students with the Belt-Up characters – is endorsed by the Road Safety Authority, the INTO (Irish National Teachers Organisation), the National Parents Council (NPC), and the National Parents Council Post Primary (NPCPP).

National Parents Council (NPC) chief executive Áine Lynch said it was vital that children receive consistent messaging from the adults that matter to them in their lives.

"The Buster and the Belt Up's initiative that is being rolled out in schools will give an important reinforcement of the messages that parents provide to their children, about wearing seat belts. Together schools and parents will make wearing seatbelts a normal part of travelling for children, and will establish lifelong safety routines."

National Parents Council Post Primary (NPCPP) spokesman Don Myers added: "NPCPP are fully supportive of Bus Éireann's new schools Seat Belt Initiative that has been launched. As parents we are always conscious of the safety of our children and are delighted that Bus Éireann are prioritising this, by leading and highlighting the use of seat belts during school transport."

(MH)