Nullawarre mum's campaign for seatbelt alarms to be fitted on buses

Emily Blake's life changed when her school bus and a truck collided and it's a reality her family lives with each day.

So when Mrs Blake learned about the recent fatal wedding bus crash in New South Wales and school bus tragedy in Eynesbury that injured young children, some of them seriously, it spurred her on to campaign for even more to be done to make it safer for passengers.

She took her ideas to a number of politicians and radio stations immediately after the accidents but only South West Coast MP Roma Britnell bothered to get back to her.

Ms Britnell spoke about Mrs Blake's ideas in Parliament this week.

"I just want to get awareness out there, and keep talking about it until changes are made," Mrs Blake said.

"I can't believe families can put their children on buses and not have them protected."

Mrs Blake has long campaigned for seatbelts to be retrofitted to buses, and after 14 years the program has almost been completed in the south-west.

She said they might have been successful in getting seatbelts on new rural school buses and having older ones retrofitted, but it wasn't enough.

Mrs Blake wants to see alarms - similar to those in cars - fitted in buses

"I don't know how it's achievable but why can't we have them fitted like a car where the alarm goes off if your seatbelt's not on and you get that annoying ding," she said.

The alarm would alert the driver who wouldn't begin the journey until everyone had their seatbelts on, similar to on planes.

"I realise it's not going to happen overnight. It's not a quick fix. It starts with education," she said.

"It's got to be done because nothing's going to change. There's going to be more multiple deaths from bus accidents."

Mrs Blake called for a major education campaign similar to those of the 1970s when seatbelts in cars were rolled out so that it became second nature for passengers to belt up.

"It's such an easy thing to do," she said.

She said it took a while for it to catch on in the 70s but now people didn't get in a car without putting one on.

Mrs Blake said she was stunned when she travelled by bus that she was often the only one who put a seatbelt on.

"You look around and you think, 'if they only knew'," she said.

"You get these tragedies and people get a bit more aware ... for a while."

Mrs Blake said legislation had to be changed to start with because it was hard to enforce passengers to wear seatbelts as police couldn't look through the window and fine people like they could with cars.

She said because of the accident their daughter Emily was never going to be the Emily she was pre-bus accident.

"We're just blessed to have her with us but it's a new Emily," she said.

"I call her the miracle in progress. She's pretty amazing. For the extent of her brain injury, she's a miracle what she can do.

"She radiates joy. It's a blessing. Anyone who comes into her life are just touched."

During her speech in Parliament, Mrs Britnell also took a swipe at the state government for refusing to install CCTV cameras on future new school buses, an issue she said should be priority.

She said an inquiry 600 days ago found the use of CCTV on buses would improve safety and deter anti-social behavior that was being reported at unacceptable rates.

Ms Britnell said the government's claim the requirements would be inappropriate, subject to available technology and should be "balanced against costs" shone a light on its priorities.

"The fact is some buses have CCTV and others don't, is a clear sign of the technology being available, but this government simply can't afford to install them," she said.

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