Bus driver’s sudden stop kills a two-year-old child

A 63-year-old driver of a school bus that can carry 21 people drove over the centerline with only 20 meters away from the daycare center in an apartment complex in Gwangju at 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. He should have taken a left turn in front of the daycare center but he attempted to take a left turn in advance only to cross the centerline. He suddenly stepped on the brake after finding a car coming from the opposite direction.

A 34-year-old daycare center teacher who was in the bus was holding a crying two-year-old boy in her arms. Although the bus was driving only 10 kilometers per hour, she fell backwards and the boy fell forwards. The boy hit his head on the corner of the engine box. He underwent surgery but died.

Police indicted the driver on Thursday and is considering whether to apply for an arrest warrant. Police confirmed that 17 other children except for the dead boy were all wearing a safety belt. “Roads in an apartment complex are not subject to the Road Traffic Act unlike other roads, so he did not violate the law,” a police source said. “We’re holding him responsible for his carelessness.”

A quick start or a sudden stop, albeit at a low speed, is highly risky. The test results of the Korean Transportation Safety Authority showed that when a bus driving at 10 kilometers per hour suddenly stopped, a big shock made an adult fall down. In a bus, in particular, children must be seated with a safety belt. They must be trained to stand up only after a bus completely stops at a bus stop. A child in the back seat of a car can be seriously injured in the neck when the car driving at a low speed suddenly stops like this deadly accident.

“When a vehicle driving at 7.5 kilometers per hour or faster suddenly stops, the passenger feels pressure as if an object of his weight falls on him,” said Ha Sang-soo, a professor of road safety department at the Korean Transportation Safety Authority. “A driver who drives a vehicle carrying children or the elderly should be careful when driving to prevent a sudden start or stop.”