Association calls on collective approach

The unruly behaviour of students, especially after school sporting events, has been an ongoing concern for many years. It is now a major public problem for all of us.

These were the comments from the Fiji Bus Operators Association’s general secretary.

It is extremely worrying and sad that groups of students continue to ignore their own safety and that of the travelling public by behaving in an extremely dangerous way,” Mr Latchan said.

This is an issue that cannot be solved by any one of us alone – it must involve students, their parents and guardians, school authorities, the Ministry of Education and bus companies.

Bus operators have been raising this issue every year, but it does not seem to have been addressed at the right level.

While we can appeal to students not to behave like this, ultimately bus operators cannot police every trip that involves such behaviour. Bus operators are calling on their drivers not to condone behaviour such as the rocking of buses, students hanging out of bus windows or the waving of flags outside of buses in a dangerous manner. If students or passengers conduct themselves in such a manner, drivers must pull their buses over and refuse to continue the journey unless their passengers stop their unruly behaviour.

If a Police station is nearby, bus drivers should stop their buses there and seek the assistance of officers.

We plead with parents, guardians and school authorities to emphasise to their students the extreme danger they are placing themselves in by engaging in such behaviour. We can understand the excitement of students at sporting events, but this excitement should be confined to the athletics venues and not taken to an extreme level on buses. Rohit Latchan Fiji Bus Operators Association general secretary

We are calling on bus drivers not to put themselves in a situation where their condoning of such behaviour leads to a tragedy – and criminal charges against them. We plead with parents, guardians and school authorities to emphasise to their students the extreme danger they are placing themselves in by engaging in such behaviour. We can understand the excitement of students at sporting events, but this excitement should be confined to the athletics venues and not taken to an extreme level on buses. Our hope is that students experience athletics events that are safe and enjoyable for all and not ruin what should be a happy time with a tragedy.