Transport Administration and police inspection of 22 school buses reveals that every bus had violations

Transport Administration and police inspection of 22 school buses reveals that every bus had violations
Photo: Transpordiamet

A total of 31 vehicles were inspected: 22 in cooperation with the police, and nine by the Transport Administration alone.

Karl Tiitson, the head of the Transport Supervision Unit at the Transport Administration, describes the outcome as disheartening. “Every parent whose kids take the bus to school has good reason to be worried,” he said. “It makes me especially sad knowing that some of those who organise such transport – which is usually the local government, but also those who operate the routes – are doing this deliberately, in my opinion. How else can you explain two bus drivers just driving away and leaving the kids behind when they spotted the inspectors, or one company that offers school bus services sending as many as four buses for extraordinary inspection? Then there was the bus driver who had to borrow a fire extinguisher from the school just to drive the kids home safely.”

Eduard Blaško, a traffic group investigator with the East Prefecture of the Police and Border Guard Board, says there can be no compromises when it comes to safety, especially where it affects the smallest and most vulnerable road users. “The technical requirements set for vehicles aren’t just sentences in some law or regulation,” he remarked. “They have a significantly greater meaning in real-life situations, and they were established with the intention of ensuring the safety of passengers.”