Govt to order safety devices installed on nursery buses

Jiji Press

16:47 JST, October 13, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government Wednesday adopted a set of emergency measures centered on mandating the installation of safety devices on nursery and kindergarten buses to prevent children from being left behind inside.

The mandatory safety device rule will enter into force in April next year with a grace period of one year. Operators of such facilities violating the rule would be ordered to suspend operations or face other punishments.

Last month, a 3-year-old girl died of heatstroke after being left behind on a bus of a kodomoen kindergarten-nursery hybrid in Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture. This followed a similar fatal incident in Nakama, Fukuoka Prefecture, in July last year.

The transport ministry will draw up guidelines by year-end on specifications of the required safety devices.