The subdelegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas, traveled to the Traffic Subsector of A Coruña to present the special control and surveillance campaign on school transport, which takes place this week, until Friday, May 26.
As highlighted by the subdelegate, during these days around twenty personnel of the Civil Traffic Guard, as well as the local police of the twelve municipalities that joined the campaign, will intensify the inspections on these vehicles, verifying that the authorizations and documents they have are the correct ones for the provision of the service. Ames, Bergondo, Cambre, Carral, Ferrol, Mugardos, Narón, Oleiros, Rianxo, Santiago, Teo and Valdoviño are the 12 municipalities in the province that joined the campaign.
They will also verify that the technical conditions and safety elements of the vehicle are those required by the regulations, as well as other issues such as driving and rest times.
María Rivas highlighted the importance of this type of campaign because in the last one that was done in the province, in December last year, 167 vehicles were controlled, of which 139 were reported, while 293 complaints were made. As for the campaign that is being developed, 100 complaints have already been processed.
Administrative irregularities are the ones that generated the highest number of complaints, 6 out of 10. Among the causes of these administrative infringements, they include not having special authorization to carry school, the maximum age of the vehicles or not having subscribed to unlimited civil liability insurance, as required by law.
María Rivas stressed that school transport is subject to a series of rules “and compliance in many cases depends on the safety of the small and small who travel in the vehicles, so it is our responsibility to demand that these are complied with” either through campaigns such as this one, the educational centers or from the mothers and fathers associations themselves that are in charge of hiring the routes.
During this campaign, it will be specially controlled that it is circulated at the allowed speed, that no use is made of the mobile phone or other devices that cause distraction for drivers. Alcohol and drug checks will also be done. In addition, special attention will be paid to the use of the belt in those school buses that have it installed.
María Rivas explained that, according to the General Directorate of Traffic’s own statistics, the majority of accidents that occur during school transport, 90% take place at the time of getting in or out of the vehicle, or just in the immediate moments and, in many cases, these are atrocities caused by a distraction of the child, the driver of school transport or the companions. A large proportion of serious injury claims are related to the lack of proper use of safety belts.
This campaign has a special transcendence in Galicia due to the great extension of school transport routes existing in the community. Galicia is the Spanish community with more school transport routes, between the public and those hired at all educational levels. According to the data of the educational authorities, in each academic year school transport service is provided to more than 95,000 students and students from about 900 public, concerted and private educational centers throughout Galicia.
In the presentation of the campaign, the deputy delegate of the Government was accompanied by the Head of Traffic Sector of the Civil Guard in Galicia, Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Hidalgo and by the deputy head of the Provincial Directorate of the DGT, Adrián Pedreira During the development of the campaign, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) will coordinate the agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard and the local police to verify that school buses and their drivers comply with the regulations established in the matter.