UAE: 50% of children don’t know how to exit school bus if trapped inside, study reveals

UAE: 50% of children don’t know how to exit school bus if trapped inside, study reveals

Failure to exit the bus or get immediate help may lead to suffocation and death due to high temperatures and lack of oxygen inside a locked vehicle

Published: Sat 1 Apr 2023, 3:16 PM Last updated: Sat 1 Apr 2023, 3:21 PM

Half of UAE children aged between 6 and 8 wouldn't know what to do in case they are trapped and forgotten inside their school buses, a Sharjah authority has found.

Sharjah's Child Safety Department (CSD) — in collaboration with the emirate's Civil Defence Authority — recently conducted a social experiment at a public school, targeting several male and female students of various nationalities.

Each child was left alone inside a closed school bus to monitor their reactions and see if they could successfully exit the bus. The children's responses varied, the experiment revealed — with only half of the participants being able to take the necessary steps to leave the bus.

The kids also did not know how to draw the attention of passers-by to help them, which puts them at serious risk when placed in an actual scenario, according to the study. Failure to exit the bus or get immediate help may lead to suffocation and death due to a lack of