Children under the age of six will be left out of the excursions, since the Parliament does not proceed with the change of the legislation for the child seats in the buses.
While those in charge had prepared to amend the law on road safety 2019, in order to "loosen" the restrictions for six-year-olds and under, however, MPs expressed doubts. Thus, the issue was referred to a subcommittee of the Committee on Transport, which will examine it and submit a bill at a later stage.
As the chairman of the Transport Committee of the Parliament, George Prokopiou, stated to "F", most of the bus owners do not have the special seats and the belts with the three mooring points, as a result of which it is not possible to amend the law at the moment. The problem that arose, he said, concerns the children of the kindergarten and the first grade of the Primary School up to six years old. At the moment they can not go on a school trip, as there is no agreement on who will bring the seats to be placed on the school buses.
Bus owners say it is unprofitable to buy child seats, while parents say they should be bought by bus owners and increase the ticket price. As the Commission said yesterday, some buses meet the requirements and they can make the trips.
There is also disagreement about who is responsible for these trips, since the Ministry of Education shows the parents and the parents the teachers. After MPs' doubts about whether it is possible to amend the legislation that came into force on June 1, it was decided that the law remains as it is, ie no excursions for children under the age of six until another settlement is made.
In the meantime, the Transport Committee will re-examine the issue of increasing penalties for serious traffic offenses on 15 November, once the issue has been discussed in the parties' parliamentary groups. The current tendency is to increase the fines, but not to the level suggested by the Government, since it is considered that the tripling of out-of-court settlements is disproportionate to the economic situation in Cyprus. An increase will be imposed, said a member of the Committee to "F", but not to the extent suggested by the seven bills. Any increase will be approved by the end of November, unless there is an obstacle.
Source: philenews