MP calls for vehicle safety upgrades

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A Bahraini parliamentarian has voiced support for introducing motion sensors and monitoring systems in vehicles used to transport schoolchildren, following the death of a four-year-old in Hamad City inside a private, unlicensed vehicle.

MP Maryam Al Dhaen said she would seek to expand her earlier proposal mandating dashboard cameras to include motion-sensing or CCTV-linked safety systems that could alert drivers or guardians if a child is left inside a vehicle. "My proposal for using dash cams is already agreed, so that will go through. Motion sensors can be added to that," she said in a phone interview.

Proposals and affordability

The MP added that checkpoints near schools could help prevent unlicensed or unsafe student transport, noting that affordability remains a major reason parents rely on unlicensed drivers. "Checkpoints by schools where they drop the kids, they have to do checkpoints," she said, agreeing that subsidies could also help licensed operators make services more accessible.

She said she would review whether similar child-safety legislation exists at GCC level but believes immediate local measures are essential.

Tech feasibility

KT Sreenivas, owner of Integrated Bell Systems Middle East W.L.L., said such technology is readily available and adaptable to Bahrain's vehicles. "It will be motion-based and can be fitted in the car and remotely monitored," he explained. "If there is any motion, it will trigger an alarm and sound to bring attention."

He added that advanced systems can also count how many children enter and exit the vehicle. "If 25 go in and only 24 come out, it alerts the driver and the office," he said, adding the systems achieve 99.9 percent accuracy.

Sreenivas said cost would depend on vehicle type and configuration but described it as "not expensive," adding that remote-monitoring features can also detect network or system failures if no status report is received during the school run.

The incident has renewed calls for stricter regulation of school-transport services, with many social-media users urging faster reforms. Parents have highlighted the high cost of licensed transport, while others questioned whether stronger laws only follow tragedies.

Safety Tech Urged | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN