Yesterday (June 27), the National Assembly passed the Road Law and the Road Traffic Order and Safety Law. The laws will take effect from January 1, 2025.

The new point in both of these laws is that they both devote a chapter to regulating student transportation activities.

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School bus of Nguyen Binh Khiem education system (Cau Giay, Hanoi). Photo: QH

Specifically, in the Road Law, Article 70 stipulates that the activity of transporting preschool children and students by car is defined as the activity of using cars to transport preschool children and students between their residence and place of study or to participate in other activities.

Accordingly, the activity of picking up and dropping off preschool children and students by car is organized by educational institutions themselves or carried out by transport businesses and is regulated as follows:

In case the educational institution organizes itself, it must comply with regulations on internal transport activities by car.

In case the transport business unit performs, it must comply with the regulations on transport business activities by car.

In addition, this activity must comply with the provisions of law on road traffic order and safety.

Meanwhile, Article 46 of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety clearly states that vehicles used for transporting preschool children and students must meet the following requirements:

Ensure technical safety and environmental protection according to the provisions of law; install journey monitoring equipment; have equipment to record images of preschool children, students and equipment with warning functions, prevent children from being left in the vehicle; the vehicle has a usage period of no more than 20 years; paint color according to Government regulations.

Vehicles carrying preschool or primary school children must have age-appropriate seat belts or use vehicles with age-appropriate seats as required by law.

For vehicles used for transportation combined with activities of picking up and dropping off preschool children and students, the following requirements must be met: Install a journey monitoring device; have a device to record images of preschool children and students, and a device with a warning function to prevent children from being left in the vehicle.

In particular, when transporting children under 10 years old and under 1.35m tall in a car, children must not sit in the same row of seats as the driver, except for cars with only one row of seats; the driver must use and instruct on the use of appropriate child safety equipment.

When picking up and dropping off preschool children and primary school students, there must be at least one manager on each vehicle to guide, supervise, maintain order and ensure the safety of preschool children and primary school students throughout the trip.

In case a vehicle has 29 seats or more (excluding the driver's seat) and carries 27 preschool children or primary school students, there must be at least 2 managers on board.

The manager and driver are responsible for checking preschool children and primary school students when getting off the vehicle; preschool children and primary school students must not be left on the vehicle when the manager and driver have left the vehicle.

Drivers transporting preschool children and students must have at least 2 years of experience driving passenger vehicles.

In particular, the Law also stipulates that educational institutions must develop procedures to ensure safety when transporting and picking up preschool children and students; instruct drivers and managers of preschool children and students to understand and properly implement the procedures; and be responsible for ensuring order and road traffic safety when organizing the transport and picking up of preschool children and students of that educational institution.

Vehicles transporting preschool children and students are given priority in traffic flow organization, traffic regulation, and parking arrangement in school areas and at points along the route to transport preschool children and students.

Appreciating the great efforts of the drafting committee to legalize student transportation, the principal of a private school in Hanoi said that this move is to ensure better safety for the students.

“The activity of transporting students by car will be carried out systematically, and each school will no longer do it differently. In particular, the Law also clearly stipulates what should be done if a school uses its own car to transport students, and what must be followed if the car is used to transport students and is used for business purposes.

I think these are the standards that schools organizing child pick-up and drop-off activities must comply with. The law takes effect from January 1, 2025 - that is, there are 6 months left for schools to prepare, this is the right amount of time," the principal informed.