Following the death of Russell Koh in April 24, after he was thrown out of his school bus in a traffic accident, there had been calls for a law to make it compulsory for school buses to have seat belts. “Enough is enough. No other child should die.” was a particularly emotive rallying call for this implementation.

However, reality on the ground, is that the cost is going to be so prohibitive that some school bus operators might decide to leave the industry if such a law is implemented. They might then be replaced by large conglomerate bus companies who are likely to hire Mainland Chinese drivers, and charge a much higher premium, further eroding the lower income Singaporean’s sense of being a stakeholder in their own country.

Questions are now being raised about why Land Transport Authority has taken two years to study whether it is feasible to implement this. Surely it is a straight forward issue, how can the LTA let another child die?

I have a suspicion if a law was enacted to enforce the installation of seat belts on school buses, there would almost immediately be a new round of letters from the public that might go something like this:

“My child travels to school on public buses, is his life not as valuable as the lives of richer children traveling in school buses? Do we have to wait until a child dies in a public bus traffic accident before we act? Enough is enough. No other child should die.”

Already the question is being asked about foreign workers on lorries. Are their lives less valuable than a Singaporean child’s? Is it racism or nationalism that motivates our refusal to give them decent and safe transport? Or are Singaporeans too money minded? These are human lives we are talking about!

What about the elderly on public buses? What about pregnant women? And teenagers? And adults? Are they worth less than a child whose parents can afford the school bus? Is standing room safe on public buses? These are all possible questions that can be raised, and they can be equally emotive when case studies are dragged out of history and plastered on the front pages.

In the end, it is all about whether it is economical for the operators to implement the rules, and how these rules would change the competitive landscape of the industry. With inflation being the keyword of the year, whether this is the right time to hammer the final nail into our wallets.

It does not help the case of the transport operators that they are currently complaining that high fuel costs have driven their profits down. ComfortDelgro, parent company of SBS Transport, saw net profits fall 9.4% to $50.2 million in the last quarter. $14 million of which was made by SBS Transport. Bear in mind that in our tiny nation of 4 million residents, ComfortDelgro is the world’s second largest land transport operator.

It is understanable why your average Singaporean might see where the problem lie with this industry. If a law to install seat belts is passed on school buses, and it does indeed drive the business into the hands of ComfortDelgro, it would look worse. If a similar law is not enacted for public buses, it might be deemed that the LTA can arm wrestle small bus operators but is impotent against the juggernauts.

Are the lives of individual Singaporeans worth $14 million a quarter? Maybe we need to ask Russel Koh’s mother. Should what we ostensibly consider our “public transport” company be profiting enough to be the world’s second largest land transport operator? At the expense of our lives? It is easy to make an emotive argument, but there is a reality to life.