No more forgotten kids inside vehicles

A new safety system invented by an Omani engineer protects children from being forgotten inside school buses.

Abdualziz al Abri, a graduate from Caledonian College of Engineering, designed the system as part of his graduation project which gives signals indicating a child left onboard 30 seconds after the vehicle is turned off.

“We hear every day tragic accidents of children because they have been left behind in school buses. Those deaths have usually been caused by a buildup of excessive heat or excessive cold inside the vehicle during the absence of the driver.

“Children in particular are susceptible to dehydration when subjected to elevated temperatures within an enclosed vehicle,” Al Abri said.

Explaining about the system, he said that it consists of a number of human detecting sensors such as PIR chair occupancy sensors, which sends a signal to microcontroller in case of detecting any human presence.

Then the controller sends a command to the buzzer to produce a sound alarm and rolling down the windows for ventilation purpose.

The system is designed to constantly send text messages and location of the bus to the driver and the school administration.

The Omani inventor looks at making his product available locally and internationally, yet, he talked about some possible obstacles where the system may lose efficiency.