Tot’s death prompts new school van rules

School vans and converted pickup trucks will have to be registered with the Department of Land Transport (DLT) and equipped with safety features, following the death of a toddler left in a school van in Samut Prakan.

The regulation is being introduced after the three-year-old girl died on Wednesday.

She was left in sweltering heat in a school van for seven hours after the driver and his assistant forgot about her.

Current regulations governing safety on school vehicles are enforceable only on buses, not vans or converted pickup trucks with fewer than 12 seats, the DLT deputy chief, Nanthapong Cherdchoo said yesterday.

Later this year, the department will release an additional regulation requiring owners of vans and converted trucks to apply for a licence to carry students, and install safety equipment.

This would include a tool to break a window to rescue a trapped passenger.

The vans and trucks must also display a school bus banner on the vehicle’s body work.

The department was also looking at banning tinted windows on school vehicles.

Meanwhile, police have charged the driver of the van and his assistant with negligence for causing the death of Palimprapa “Nong Ing” Pajjaiyo on Wednesday.

The girl was found on the floor of a Toyota van parked in front of the Denchai Samakkhi housing estate in Muang district.

Arthit Rangsiyo, 30, the driver, and his assistant Sathit Suwannachak, 33, picked up Nong Ing and 12 other kindergarten pupils from the estate on Wednesday morning to take them to Khlong Krabua School nearby. Mr Sathit’s job is to take care of the pupils in the chartered van.

When the children were seated, Mr Arthit noticed the air-conditioner was faulty, so he parked the vehicle in front of the estate and arranged for another van to collect the children, police said.

Mr Athit and Mr Sathit admitted they failed to perform a head count when they transferred the children to the second van, but said the scene was chaotic at the time.

They locked the van door, not realising Nong Ing was still inside.

It was believed she was asleep on the back seat at the time.

The pair discovered Nong Ing was missing when they returned to the school at 2pm to take the pupils home.

After calling the girl’s mother Thanatcha Pajjaiyo, 34, they went to the parked van and found the girl dead, police said.