Minibus owners consider fitting seatbelts

The Minibus Cooperative is looking into fitting seatbelts in those red minivans which are exempt from having them in place under European Union regulations.

The chairman, Charles Mercieca, said that due to recent media coverage about the lack of seatbelts on a substantial number of minibuses, towards the end of last scholastic year parents had requested schools to hire seatbelt-equipped minivans to transport their children.

More than 50 per cent of the red minivans used on the school run are not equipped with seatbelts but under EU rules they are not obliged to install them as they were manufactured before 1997.

Many parents, however, are under the wrong impression that these vehicles are operating illegally, Mr Mercieca said.

The owners feel something has to be done or they will lose custom come the next scholastic year.

"We are doing something about it not because we are operating illegally but because we do not want to lose market share," Mr Mercieca insisted.

In view of this, the cooperative, which represents around 92 per cent of the 404 red minivans registered in Malta and Gozo, has held discussions with an engineering firm on the possibility of installing seatbelts.

It has also been in contact with a British firm with a view to importing a new set of seats incorporating seatbelts to replace the original ones.

Mr Mercieca complained that minibus owners feel they were being discriminated against by the police and local wardens who regularly stopped them for surprise inspections. They were not as rigid with other means of transport used on the school run such as coaches and route buses, he claimed. Red minivans only transport around 30 per cent of schoolchildren.

He also pointed out that when parents organise car pools, some cars carry as many as five children to school but the authorities turn a blind eye and neither do they stop them to check if the children are wearing seatbelts.

"Come September, when the new scholastic year begins, we will be losing income because we will be transporting fewer children due to the one-to-one rule (one child per seat) and also due to the increasing fuel costs.

"And we are also suffering unfair competition because while we are stopped to ensure that we are abiding by the law, others who also transport schoolchildren are not stopped," he claimed.

"Why only us? The authorities are discriminating against us and even using bullying tactics."

He cited a case of a red minivan once being chased by a traffic policeman who wanted to check if the five schoolchildren on board were wearing seatbelts.

He argued that although drivers in non-exempt minivans are obliged to tell children to wear the seatbelts, they then had to concentrate on driving and not on whether children kept their seatbelts on.

The police denied Mr Mercieca's claims of discrimination and bullying.

"Please note that there is no law regarding the use of seat belts on coaches.

"Also note that the police do not stop only minibuses to check about seat belts but also private cars.

"The police are on our streets to monitor every single traffic offence and are there to offer the best policing services to all the society," a spokesman said.