Debate contribution: Safety at School Bus Stops

Debate contribution by Mrs Michelle Guy on 2 June 2025.

MLA

Mrs Michelle Guy

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

2 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Safety at School Bus Stops

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4981283

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Since becoming an elected politician, I, like others, have spent a huge amount of time lobbying for road safety in our communities and at schools. Trying to get things done in that space is frustratingly slow, and I am always left asking the question, "Why do we seemingly have to wait for a tragedy before action is taken?". The Minister has reacted and announced some welcome legislation today in relation to overtaking school buses. I urge her not to let up and to ensure that the sustained investment that, evidence shows us, is needed to stay on top of road safety happens. Our schools are proactive on road safety, and it is integrated into the curriculum at primary and post-primary levels, but they are also proactive in identifying risks at their schools and lobbying for interventions to mitigate them. Here, we have an issue. I worked with one school in particular to get a simple path that would make getting to school safer for pupils. It would also tick the active travel box, would encourage more parents to use public transport — it would connect to a park-and-ride — and would not cost the earth to deliver, yet progress has been excruciatingly slow. Minister, your Department has to find ways to make common-sense road safety decisions such as that more easily, more quickly and with more agility. The 20 mph initiative at some schools has had a positive effect, but the call in the UUP amendment to look at some specific infrastructure and road layout suggestions feels like a good one to explore, especially in rural areas. Largely, we have agreement across the Chamber on the issue, but, following the recent, tragic loss of young Caitlin-Rose McMullan, we are not just persuaded by the logic of the call in the motion and the amendments; we are moved by it. The messaging of the Department's recent campaign states that children are more at risk around a bus than when travelling on it. What does that mean for those of us who are drivers as we wait for legislation? It means this: if you are driving near a school bus, you are no longer in a hurry — you stop. Wherever you have to be, whatever pressure you are under, it is not more important than a child's safety. Slowing down to let those kids get safely off the bus may cost you minutes, but better that than the cost of a child's life. That is not hyperbole. It is the real-world message that drivers have to get. I support Departments working together to achieve that. I close by thanking the families who have come here today and laid bare the unimaginable pain and trauma that they have experienced in order to fight for change. You have already prompted some action from the Minister today, and I hope that that provides some small measure of comfort in your grief.

487 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:45 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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