The Bus Industry Confederation (BIC) continues to advise and support governments across the country in the revision of bus safety requirement policies — particularly on dedicated school bus services.
The BIC has developed a suite of operator guidelines and industry advisories on fire, passenger door, roll-over and seatbelt safety, for example, as well as submitted numerous papers to key government stakeholders and reviews. Its Safety Initiatives Paper details key topics and matching recommendations, including implementing a national harmonised approach to bus safety awareness aimed at education in schools and the general public.
Of recent focus are education and awareness campaigns to encourage seatbelt use, which have traditionally focussed on cars with little or no reference to buses. It’s generally accepted that seatbelts should be worn if present, though the lack of focus on buses over the years meant that it hasn’t been automatically adopted by passengers and especially not school children.
BusSAFE will move into New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia later in the year.
Various state-based approaches to seatbelt safety in buses have always existed, yet they’ve varied in their promotion in the classroom. Following its official national launch last year, the BusSAFE school program extended its reach beyond South Australia into Queensland and Tasmania.
By term two of 2025, BusSAFE presenters had opened the program in regional Queensland with school visits in Gympie, Emerald and Beaudesert, and further south in schools across the Tasmanian north coast. Term three will be moving into regional hubs like the Gold Coast, Toowoomba and outer suburban Hobart.
The BIC is continuing to focus on making buses safer for passengers of all ages, including through recent seatbelt education campaigns
The BusSAFE message remains clear: stay alert at the bus stop, don’t distract the driver or other passengers, be prepared for emergencies and use seatbelts, headphones and phones responsibly.
Teaching students how to safely cross the road around buses, with a focus on blind spots, is also key. One student reported that the most important thing learnt during a BusSAFE session was that “there are lots of spots (outside the bus) where the driver can’t see you”.
Bus drivers transporting students from the first schools in Launceston to take part in the program also noticed the change in their young passengers, such as reminding others to wear their seatbelts and to remove earbuds around buses. These are the kinds of early interventions that create safer journeys for everyone.
In January this year, through the BIC’s advocacy efforts, a new Australian Design Rule (ADR) to improve seatbelt wearing rates in buses and coaches was finally introduced to help save lives on our roads following consultation with the states, territories and industry.
Coming into effect from November 1, 2026, the new requirements include visual and audio alerts on buses and coaches – similar to those featured on air travel – which aim to encourage usage where three-point seatbelts are present. It also removes a loophole that allowed some coaches not to be fitted with seatbelts.
