For many parents around the country, it’s the little things that ease their doubts. As they hug their kids good-bye each weekday morning and guide them onto the bus to school, the safety of their little students is of the highest importance. It can be seen in the holding back of tears, the waiting for the bus to return in the afternoon, the nagging desire each day to see their child return safely home from school.
In late January, the federal government took a major step to address safety concerns for school buses around the nation when it announced a new Australian Design Rule (ADR) that will require buses and coaches to feature seatbelt reminder systems. The ADR comes in the wake of the Hunter Valley bus crash in June 2023 and other recent school bus incidents that have demonstrated the impact that fatal road crashes can have on families and wider communities.
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From November 1, 2026, all new models of buses and coaches in Australia that have seatbelts fitted must also include these reminder systems. From November 1, 2027, all new existing model buses and coaches with seatbelts must also have the reminder systems installed. For heavy vehicle safety specialists like SGESCO-MAX, this new regulation provides an ideal opportunity to maximise the safety technology placed on school buses in the coming years.
“Occupant safety is our core solution that we offer the bus and coach industry,” SGESCO-MAX managing director Scott McPherson told ABC.
“On the back of the announcement of the new ADR, we’re looking at how our technology can help the industry comply with the requirements.”
SGESCO-MAX offers seatbelt monitoring technology as premium safety solution for the fleet operators who chose to go above and beyond the ADR requirements. The MAX-SAFE SWS provides safety to occupants and reassurance to drivers and fleet owners that their passengers are correctly buckled throughout a journey.
“The detailed message will play when the door shuts and the bus starts to move. This system, along with visual alerts, is designed solely to meet the ADR and keep bus companies compliant with the new regulation.”
The latest technology will join a long list of heavy vehicle safety systems that SGESCO-MAX offers. Its MAX-SAFE maximum safety range is currently installed on more than 22,000 vehicles to date, with the brand having a dealer and service partner network that spans most of Australia and New Zealand.
At the forefront of the seatbelt safety challenge that the local industry is currently addressing is SGESCO-MAX’s occupant safety system. After first being introduced to the market nine years ago to promote safer mine transfers for companies like BHP, the system spans from the framework of the seat itself to the monitoring technology involved.
For its latest package that will adhere to the ADR, SGESCO-MAX’s occupant safety system will include all the usual protections as well as the audio and visual alert technology to ensure all passengers safely apply their seatbelts. The upgraded system will also include a passenger check solution as an additional option, forming a high-end occupant technology package for operators looking to maximise the safety of their passengers.
However, SGESCO-MAX is providing a level of flexibility with these latest upgrades. On top of the premium safety package, the brand is also offering just the seatbelt announcement technology for companies that simply want to comply with the ADR.
“Our system is designed to fully meet the ADR’s requirements, but one thing we wanted to ensure was that we also provided a more economical solution that complied with the regulation,” McPherson says.
“While our high-end occupant system is our premium package that can be built on and added to with the likes of voice announcements and passenger checks, the base solution can’t be added to and will solely meet the ADR.”
Within the local market, SGESCO-MAX is renowned for its seatbelt monitoring warning systems. McPherson is hoping the industry will cherish the latest upgrades to the system that will allow customers to add more features to the occupant protection solution to create a customisable package for their fleets. If they don’t want this, then the base system will help ensure more seatbelted buses and coaches remain safer than ever before.
“Industry feedback has shaped what we are offering in the wake of the ADR announcement,” he says.
“Given the deadlines for the ADR, when buses need to comply with it, there will be a large market available that requires this technology to be fitted to its buses.
“The market has a need, and it’s in our wheelhouse, so we want to develop the solution that helps more fleets become safer for students.”
McPherson stresses the solution will come in multiple options, ranging from economical to including the latest enhanced safety technology. Feedback from drivers and associations regarding the audio alerts and when they play has been incorporated into the new technology – the speaker can be tailored to play the seatbelt message both when the doors open and close, as well as when the bus begins to move.
“We also got asked to provide options that identify when people embark or disembark a bus, and we have a few concepts around that to develop,” McPherson says.
“It’s a balance between being economical and offering the best safety technology. We can do really smart things with AI cameras when it comes to counting passengers, so if we tie that in with when the speaker is triggered to play the safety message, it is a leading safety system.
“However, we are aware that it has to be economical for our customers, so we’re preparing to get industry feedback on our latest concepts.”
McPherson’s goal is to introduce the technology and its multiple packages in the first quarter of the new financial year, meaning the industry should prepare for the systems to hit the market between July and September. Due to the ADR announcement, it’s a high-priority product for the SGESCO-MAX team to develop and introduce to Australia’s bus and coach industry.
When it is unveiled, it’ll come as a great relief to both the legion of local operators running school services, and the many parents who send their kids to and from school each day on a bus. Alongside its various other solutions, SGESCO-MAX is most looking forward to the peace of mind it can provide many Australians.
“We’re just locking down what the final products will look like now – we’re known for our seatbelt safety solution and our anti-rollaway technology, so we’ll continue focusing on issues impacting the bus industry,” McPherson says.
“We’re trying to solve many different problems while also increasing the level of safety technology onboard Australian buses and coaches.
“We understand the pressure that these rules may bring onto bus drivers, so we want to make the system easy to run. Our end goal is to empower companies to save lives, so we’ll work with the industry to help everyone with what they want and need.”
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