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New safety systems ensure no children left on bus

Auto-electronics maker Pioneer is among Japanese companies developing safety systems for nursery-school buses to make sure no children are left inside.

About 44,000 buses operated by nursery schools and kindergartens nationwide must comply with a government requirement to be fitted with such systems by April 2024.

The move was prompted by the death of a three-year-old girl in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, last September. She was forgotten inside a school bus for hours and died of heatstroke.

Pioneer is set to launch its system later this month.

Once the bus's engine has stopped, an alarm will sound until someone presses a button in the back of the vehicle. This forces the driver or an attendant to walk to the back and check for any remaining children.

The system will also send a text message to the phones of the child-care facility staff if its camera or microphone detects any children inside.

Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230330_32/