While waiting to harmonize the five departments, the regional council decided to no longer make the safety vest mandatory in school buses. A decision that surprises among local elected officials.

Since 1 September 2017, school transportation is a competence of the regional council and no longer of the departments. A change of no consequence for students and families, with one exception, the yellow vest with reflective tapes that can be seen better at bus stops and roadside, especially in rural areas.

Provided in recent years by municipalities, communities of municipalities or the department as is the case in the Channel, the famous vest was managed disparately.

During the last season, the Region decided not to make it obligatory for children and teens taking the bus. Local elected officials were surprised and worried. This is the case of Antoine Aubrey, mayor of Labour-intensive, south of Saint-L. About fifty of her young people are concerned: “Our kindergarten children who did not receive a vest when they arrived at school have nothing at all. Winter is coming and the days are getting shorter. Even the driver has trouble understanding. And since he only has one extra vest with reflective fabric… ”

Harmonize Normandy

In the Channel, where the Department has been distributing jackets since 2014, we do not want to “comment on a decision of the Region”. At Mango, the Channel transport service working for the Region, we try to clarify the situation at the request of the mayors: “The Channel was the only department to distribute and make mandatory the yellow vest. There is a work of harmonization to be done throughout Normandy. ”

For this 2018-2019 year which may be transient, no distribution，therefore ，no obligation and no penalty “even if the vest is strongly recommended”.

It’s up to families to buy one for each of their children. Mango even goes so far as to suggest supermarkets or specialized sports shops … Without indicating an average price …

If “the wearing of the vest or any other retro-reflective device is to be advocated in the best interest of students,” continues Mango, many mayors wonder why “the Region has not continued distribution” while reflecting on common practice for the five departments.

Solicited Thursday, September 27, the elected officials and services of the Region in charge of the file could not be reached. Antoine Aubrey, he worries and alerts his colleagues. “If anything happens to the bus, like a breakdown, children will have to wait without a vest on the side of the road? “