80% support school bus safety feature: poll

A minibus is parked at a daycare center in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. A four-year-old was found dead in the bus hours after she was left unattended. / Korea Time

By Lee Kyung-min

Four out of five people support a monitoring system in school and kindergarten buses to check whether any child is left in the vehicles, following the recent death of a girl who was left alone in a daycare center bus for hours in the scorching heat, a survey showed Monday.

According to the survey conducted by Realmeter of 501 people last Friday, 78.2 percent said they agreed with the need to promptly install a “sleeping child check” monitor in such vehicles carrying children.

A driver can turn off the ignition only after turning off a device that is installed in the back seat of the vehicle, forcing the driver to make sure no child has been left behind. If the driver leaves the vehicle without pressing a button to deactivate the system, the car horn will go off to remind the person for a final check.

The overwhelming figure comes amid growing support for stringent child safety measures following the death of the four-year-old.

The girl was found in the back of her daycare center van in the scorching heat last week. She was found at 4:50 p.m., July 17, nearly seven hours after all other children exited the vehicle in front of the daycare center in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province. The temperature reached 32.2 degrees Celsius that day.

Police questioned the driver, two instructors and the center owner last Friday. The driver told police he had not checked the back of the vehicle, a practice he called “nothing unusual,” drawing great concern and anguish from parents.

The driver said he was neither instructed to check the rear of the vehicle, nor did he undergo any safety training, indicating the center owner and instructors could face criminal charges for failing to follow basic safety guidelines.

Under the law governing traffic safety, drivers who fail to thoroughly check the rear of the vehicle to look for children left behind are subject to a fine of only 130,000 won ($100). Police are considering seeking arrest warrants for the four individuals for suspected professional negligence resulting in death.

An online petition on Cheong Wa Dae's website to demand installing of the monitoring device on all school and kindergarten buses has collected nearly 100,000 signatures since July 17.

Several lawmakers have also submitted bills to introduce the safety feature.