Following community concern over school bus incidents resulting in the death of or serious injury to school aged children, the Australian Transport Council (ATC) requested Austroads: (1) to review current practice and research in relation to school bus safety; and (2) to identify new or proven safety measures that may be used as part of a national approach to school bus safety. To ensure that school bus safety is recognised as a road safety priority nationally, this report summarises the National School Bus Safety Action Plan, as proposed in School Bus Safety in Australia -Technical Report, to complement the National Road Safety Strategy 2001-2010. The School Bus Safety Action Plan is intended as a guide to states and territories. It provides a set of short to long term initiatives expected to improve school bus safety. The manner and degree to which each measure is applied by each jurisdiction will depend on programs currently delivered and the level of applicability within each state and territory. Components of the School Bus Safety Action Plan comprise a range of current and new "best practice" initiatives that focus on: (1) improving the behaviours of children, parents, teachers, child carers, bus drivers and operators, and the general community; (2) improvements to school buses and their design; (3) improvements to the road and its environment; (4) other motorists. To refine and facilitate the implementation of the School Bus Safety Action Plan, and to monitor the effectiveness of the program and identify future crash trends, the review also recommended the establishment of a School Bus Safety Advisory Group. The review further recommended an expansion of the national reporting system pertaining to school bus crashes. (Author/publisher) For the technical report see C 22713 (ITRD E204494).
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