Nine accidents were registered in 2017 and had caused 12 injuries.
More than 100 school bus drivers have been fined in Abu Dhabi this year for not displaying the stop signs on their vehicles while picking up or dropping off students. New figures from Abu Dhabi Police showed that 111 violations have been registered against such drivers from January to October this year.
The penalty for not displaying the stop signs on a school bus is Dh500 and six black points.
The statistics were presented in a paper titled ‘Security and Safety in School Transport Fleets’ during a conference on traffic safety in Abu Dhabi last week.
The paper also revealed that six major crashes were caused by school buses during 2018 in which seven people were injured.
Nine accidents were registered in 2017, and had caused 12 injuries, according to the report.
The paper added that 33 major school bus accidents have been reported from 2014 to 2018, resulting in two deaths and 64 injuries.
3,664 motorists ignore stop signs
The police earlier reported that 3,664 motorists were fined in Abu Dhabi for ignoring the stop signs on school buses during the 2018-19 academic year. The errant drivers were slapped with a Dh1,000 fine and 10 black points.
In September 2019, the Abu Dhabi Police announced that cameras will be installed on all school buses in Abu Dhabi to catch motorists ignoring the stop signs.
Stop arms automatically extend out of the bus and motorists are required to wait until the child is safely out of the way. As per the law, drivers are required to stop at least five metres away from the bus.
According to police figures, there are 7,705 school buses operating in Abu Dhabi, 6,407 school bus drivers, 4,900 supervisors and 386 operators of transport companies.
