Three more school buses in the Daylesford and Bacchus Marsh will be fitted with seat belts through funding of $60,616 under the Gillard Government’s Seat Belts on Buses program.
Federal Member for Ballarat, Catherine King, said A.A. Cronin of Daylesford will receive $20,944 to fit seat belts to one bus under the program while Bacchus Marsh coaches will fit them to two buses with funding of $39,672.
As Federal Minister for Road Safety, Ms King announced yesterday that the local buses were among 115 across regional Australia being fitted with seatbelts with an investment of $2.1 million in round 10 of the program.
“We all know that seatbelts save lives and for kids in regional Australia who travel on school buses for longer and at higher speeds than those in the cities, seatbelts are all the more important,” Ms King said.
The Seatbelts on Regional School Buses program allows bus operators on recognised rural and regional school routes to apply for up to $25,000 to have seatbelts installed in new buses or retrofitted in existing ones.
Today’s announcement brings the Government’s funding for the program up to $7.5 million, with 421 buses across regional Australia benefitting from the grants.
“The number of applications is increasing with every round of the program, which we can largely attribute to local communities, schools and parents getting the word out and encouraging local operators to get on board,” Ms King said.
Regions across four Australian states will benefit from this round of funding, with further detail on the program available at www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/seatbelts.
The Seatbelts on Regional School Buses program is part of the Government’s contribution to the National Road Safety Strategy, aimed at reducing death and serious injuries on Australia’s roads.