Stephen Turner, of Transport Safety Victoria, said a number of country bus routes across the state were littered with unsafe temporary bus stops. 

“A lot of the bus stops in the country aren’t even bus stops – they’re just where the bus pulls up on the side of the road,” he said. 

“You can’t go and build a big shiny bus stop at one place one year when you know children might be getting on the bus at a different place the year after.”

Despite one child being seriously injured catching a bus in country Victoria over the past five years, Mr Turner believed there was room for improvement. 

“Bus travel is very much low likelihood, high consequence,” he said. 

“Now we’ve got a lot more congestion on the road, and if you think about it children are vulnerable.” 

Mr Turner attended a bus safety forum in Ballarat this week, where local drivers had the chance to voice their safety concerns. 

David Wakeling, a driver for Ballarat Coach Lines which runs a number of services on school bus routes, said Ballarat had worked hard over the past two years to eradicate bus stop black spots. 

“I would say that there’s not unsafe places, but it would be nice to have everything 100 per cent,” he said.

“Most of our stops are pretty good.”

william.vallely@fairfaxmedia.com.au