Photo/Illutration A school bus owned by the Kawasaki Kindergarten School in Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture, sits in a parking lot on Sept. 14 after a 3-year-old girl was found unconscious with no vital signs inside it on Sept. 5. She later died. (Akari Uozumi)

“It was hot, wasn’t it? You had a terrible time, didn’t you? But you stuck it out so bravely. Way to go, sweetheart! What a really, really good girl you are.”

This, I understand, was the message written on a card with a picture of a panda placed next to a bouquet of flowers on a makeshift altar set in front of the Kawasaki Kindergarten School in Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture.

The altar was also laden with an array of bottled drinks brought by mourners who were filled with pity for the young victim, who must have suffered from excruciating thirst.

A 3-year-old died on Sept. 5 after she was left behind on the kindergarten’s school bus. It breaks my heart to imagine how scared and confused she must have been.

The tragedy prompted the government to release a set of “urgent measures” on Oct. 12. They include the compilation of the nation’s first manual regarding the process of getting children off school buses, as well as requiring schools to install safety devices by next spring.

Some kindergartens have already started teaching youngsters how to honk the horn on the bus. If their arms are not strong enough, they are taught to sit on the horn or use a water bottle to help them place their body weight on the horn.

Imagining such an eventuality is distressing, but it is necessary.

Multiple cases have been reported in Thailand, Canada and other countries of children falling asleep on school buses and dying from heatstroke or hypothermia.

In California, such fatal accidents have led to the codification of a “child safety alert system” in 2016.

Under this system, an alarm goes off when the bus driver turns off the engine, and the driver must go to the rear of the vehicle to switch off the alarm. The interior of the vehicle is also monitored from within by a surveillance camera. A GPS device tracks the bus’s location, and a sensor is activated when the bus starts moving.

In every country, the basic rule is to do a roll call every time children board or get off the bus, and this process is double-checked by various safety devices on board.

Even with all these safety measures, however, children are still at risk unless the adults in charge remain fully vigilant. There can never be too many layers of protective procedures.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 14

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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