The current Act obligates drivers of school buses for children and the guardians aboard to confirm the safe boarding and alighting of children, requires operators and drivers of school buses for children to receive safety education, and prescribes other provisions to protect the road safety of children who use school buses.

However, recent events in which children were injured or died after being left on board a school bus for children have prompted a search for measures to improve the actual effectiveness of the provisions, such as the installation of child check systems.

Accordingly, the Amendment increases the scope of school buses for children, requires operators of school buses for children to install a child check system inside the buses, and includes guardians aboard school buses for children in the scope of persons subject to safety education regarding school buses for children, thereby aiming to prevent fatal accidents when children are left on board a school bus for children.

Details

A. Include in the scope of school buses for children any motor vehicle used to transport children to and from any child welfare facility for the education of children, and require an employee of the child welfare facility to board the school bus with the children aboard (Article 2, subparagraph 23, item E newly inserted, and Article 53, paragraph 3, subparagraph 5)

B. Require operators of school buses for children to install a child check system inside the school buses and maintain it under the law (Article 53, paragraph 4)

C. Require the guardians aboard school buses for children as well as the operators and drivers of the school buses to receive safety education regarding school buses for children, the duration of which shall be at least 5 hours (Article 53-3, paragraphs 1 and 2)

D. Prevent safety accidents in school buses for children by strengthening the level of penalties and administrative fines for operators and drivers, etc., who have failed their duty of care (Articles 154, 156, 160, etc.)

Require persons who operate a school bus for children to install and maintain a child check system (a system that sounds an emergency alarm when the driver of a school bus for children fails to push a button installed inside the vehicle before alighting the bus; the same applies hereinafter) inside the school bus (Article 53, paragraph 4)
Require persons who operate a school bus for children to designate a person who has received safety education regarding school buses for children as a guardian pursuant to Article 53, paragraph 3 and arrange him or her to be on board the school bus (Article 53-3)