Local driver Mal Whitton, who is secretary for Bus NSW in the New England area, said the dedicated local school bus services were closing in on its third year of mandatory installation of seatbelts on new buses.

With close to 75 per cent of the local fleet now fitted with seatbelts, Mr Whitton estimated that within the next three years seatbelts will be fully integrated across all local buses.

Those buses that travel school bus routes on high risk roads have been scheduled for early replacement.

With federal funding re-sparking debate over the feasibility of seatbelts in school buses, Mr Whitton said the issue of enforcement is still a “grey line”.

While he said drivers cannot be expected to comprehensively enforce the use of seatbelts, bus services are making considerable headway in encouraging positive student behaviour on the bus.

“We can’t kick the kids off for not wearing their seatbelts,” Mr Whitton said.

“When we put the seatbelts on about two years ago, there were a couple of inspections to make sure they were wearing them.

“A couple of them weren’t and then they got the gist and basically, I have never had a problem since,” Mr Whitton told The Times.

With federal funding anticipated to continue over the coming decade, Mr Whitton said that local students were already coming on board with the new requirements.

He said enforcing the use of seatbelts on local buses was about guiding drivers and promoting a community awareness of bus safety.