The bus involved in the fatal accident on the Banetsu expressway (Susumu Okamoto)

EDITORIAL: Full checks of transport safety measures needed for school trips

（社説）校外活動の事故　対策の穴　洗い出し急務

The precious life of a student was lost when a bus carrying him and 19 others from a high school in Niigata city for club activities crashed into a guardrail on the Banetsu expressway in Fukushima Prefecture.

As there has been a number of accidents while students were being transported for club activities, countermeasures are needed to reduce tragic accidents by clarifying the structural background that may have been a contributing factor.

Many of the safety measures implemented at schools to guard against natural disasters, accidents and crimes are likely on the minds of those at the school on a daily basis.

But crisis management for extracurricular activities, including sports clubs, may not be as well thought out.

The education ministry in April issued a notice calling for thorough implementation of safety measures for activities outside of schools.

The notice was issued in the wake of an accident in Okinawa Prefecture that killed and injured students of a Kyoto high school who were on an excursion.

The document said it was important for schools to confirm beforehand whether safety was secured for the transportation services to be utilized.

It goes without saying that a single document will not resolve all the problems.

On May 12, education minister Yohei Matsumoto said he would begin considering what measures were needed.

Among the issues that should be thoroughly examined are if there are holes in safety measures besides those that emerged from the latest accidents and whether causes that might lead to accidents exist in the way activities outside of school are conducted.

According to the Japan Sports Agency, there are no national guidelines defining specific measures for safety management during trips by school clubs.

As more school clubs travel to other regions, an understandable set of basic principles is needed that outlines what steps should be in place to prevent accidents while respecting the unique circumstances of local governments and schools.

In the Banetsu expressway accident, the bus company dispatched a rental bus and the driver was found through an acquaintance of a company sales representative.

If the company had used a chartered bus, it would have been legally obligated to implement various safety measures, such as not using drivers who were ill, who were lacking in sleep or who were overworked.

Such a bus would have a green license plate indicating that it met legal standards.

But the bus used in the accident had only a white license plate, meaning the rental vehicle was no different from a passenger car and was not covered by the stricter legal standards.

If the driver transported passengers and received fees for the use of a white license plate bus, that could violate the Road Transportation Law.

Insurance payments and proper compensation may not be made if the accident involved an unauthorized bus.

The high school and bus company have given different explanations for how the rented bus was used, but the question remains about whether there was an extreme lack of responsibility on both sides regarding the handling of lives.

In the past, there have been schools in a number of prefectures found to have used unauthorized buses so an inspection should be conducted as soon as possible to determine if other schools have used such vehicles.

We would like to confirm again that students and their families have the right to know if the company and individuals can be trusted from a safety standpoint as well as the right to ask the school to take sufficient measures.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 13

福島県の磐越道で、部活動の遠征先に向かう新潟市の高校の生徒２０人を乗せたマイクロバスがガードレールに衝突し、生徒１人の尊い命が失われた。部活動の移動時の事故は繰り返し起きている。痛ましい事故をゼロに近づけるには、構造的な背景の解明を踏まえた対策が不可欠だ。
　学校での安全については、災害や事故、犯罪への対策など、日ごろから意識されていることが多いだろう。これに対し、部活を含む校外活動での危機管理は、どこまで明確に意識されているだろうか。
　文部科学省は４月、「学校における校外活動の安全確保の徹底等について」と題する通知を出したばかりだった。京都府の高校の生徒らが研修旅行先の沖縄県で死傷し、安全管理のあり方が問われた事故を受けたものだ。「利用する旅客運送の安全確保について、予（あらかじ）め確認すること等も重要である」とも述べていた。
　だが、一片の通知が万能薬にならないのは当然だ。文科相は１２日、対策の検討を表明した。安全対策の穴が、最近の事故で浮かんだ以外にもないか。事故につながりかねない遠因が校外活動のあり方に潜んではいないか。徹底的に洗い出すことが求められる。
　スポーツ庁によると、部活の遠征などで移動する際の安全管理の方法を具体的に定めた国の指針はないという。部活の地域移行も進む中、自治体や学校の個別事情も尊重しつつ、事故を防ぐために守るべき基本原則は何か、わかりやすく示すことが望ましい。
　磐越道の事故では、バス運行会社が、レンタカーのバスと、営業担当者の知人を通じて探した運転手を手配した。
　会社の貸し切りバスなら、病気や睡眠不足、過労での運転の防止など、安全運行のための様々な措置が法令で義務付けられている。事業用の緑ナンバー車だ。一方、今回のバスは自家用車と同じ白ナンバーのレンタカーで、そうした義務の対象外だ。白ナンバーのバスで対価を受け取って人を運ぶと、道路運送法違反の「白バス」行為となる可能性がある。白バスの事故は保険がおりず適切な賠償を受けられない恐れがある。
　今回の経緯を巡り高校と会社の主張は食い違うが、どちらも命を預かる責任感が著しく薄れていなかったか。
　過去には複数の県で学校の白バス利用が問題化した。各校は、白バスを使っていないか、早急に点検してほしい。
　生徒や家族には、安全面で信頼できる人や業者なのかを知る権利も、学校に十全な対策を求める権利もある。そのことを改めて確認したい。

(2026年5月13日)