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Buses are the safest form of motor vehicle travel in
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau Report on Bus
Safety in 2001 found that of the 17,840 road fatalities to have occurred between
1990 and 1998, buses were involved in less than one percent of these.
Indeed, out of the 300 bus related fatalities to
have occurred during this period, 1/3 was pedestrian, 1/3 was occupants in other
vehicles and 1/3 were bus occupants. This
is an average of 10 bus occupant related fatalities per year. Furthermore it is
important to recognise that 42 out of these 100 bus occupants were killed in
With more than one billion passenger trips being
made on buses every year in Australia, the odds of a passenger suffering a fatal
accident are currently a remote one in 100 million.
Any debate relating to safety on school buses should
also recognise a study conducted by
The
Bus
Industry is committed to the road safety of our passengers, our employees and to
the travelling public. We are in
full support of initiatives that will improve the overall safety performance of
the bus industry and reduce accidents involving buses or coaches.
Most
Australian Government transport departments and similar international transport
agencies have formed the opinion that it is only through combining improvements
in rollover strength, seat and seat anchorage strength and seat belts that
significant inroads can be made into reducing bus fatalities and injuries.
Seatbelts will not necessarily protect passengers travelling on a bus
where its chassis, internal cage or seating structure is not designed to handle
a rollover or head-on collision. The
reality is that the high mass of a bus protects the passengers in the event of a collision.
Current
design standards for Australian buses require modern engineering techniques to
ensure seats do not collapse or move away from their foundations following a
collision or rollover. However the
majority of buses operating on Australian roads today pre-date these
requirements. The Australian bus
industry considers the collapse of seats and/or body of an older vehicle during
an accident poses a far greater danger to passengers than the lack of seatbelts.
We recommend a national strategy led by the Federal Government and
endorsed by all State Governments for upgrading bus fleets to modern design
requirements. This renewal strategy
should occur to a phased timeline to align the requirements of the Disability
Discrimination Act, Accessible Transport Standards introduced in October 2002
and Australian Design Rules related to emissions.
The
issue of seatbelts in buses is an ongoing concern to the community.
The Australian bus industry supports the use of seatbelts in buses to
improve the safety of travel by passengers and drivers.
The Bus Industry Confederation believes that a holistic approach to
addressing bus safety issues is required. This
needs to take into account all the possible factors relating to bus accidents in
order to deliver a set of measures to reduce the causes of accidents as well as
improving the survivability of those involved in bus related accidents.
In order to achieve this, the industry believes detailed research is
required to be undertaken to better understand the causes of bus and coach
related accidents.
We believe that as part of any comprehensive research, a
comparison of the relative safety of small and large buses requires
investigation. This should take into
account the differences in mass and size of the vehicles.
Investigation
should be conducted into the benefits associated with the installation of
well-padded high back seats for large buses with a capacity for 27 seats or
more, which AustRoads claims could reduce
fatalities by up to 20%.
This should examine a more flexible regulation structure for the vehicles
used for multiple purposes.
The
Federal Government should, as a priority, fund a national study to extend
initial research conducted by the NSW Department of Transport.
The research estimated that the fitment of padding to seat tops and
staunchions had the potential to save 1 serious injury and 75 minor injuries out
of all the cases studied over the four year period.
It was estimated that this would cost about $7 million for the buses in
NSW. For comparison, the Department
estimated that fitment of lap/sash seatbelts would cost over $200 million and
had the potential to save 1 fatality, 2 serious injuries and 100 minor injuries.
Federal
and State Government should continue to encourage the purchasing of low floor
vehicles, which because of the modern design, are far safer than older vehicles.
As an interim measure,
State Governments should commit to the installation of appropriate padding in
older buses that fail to meet current design specifications.
Small
buses used to convey students either by normal route or designated school
services with a seating capacity of 27 or less should be equipped with lap
shoulder belts at all designated seating positions.
Since the size and operating weights of these smaller buses are closer to
those of passenger cars, seat belts would help provide better occupant
protection with a comparative low cost of installation.
There should be no provisions in the Australian Design Rules that make
small buses with less than 27 seats exempt for any requirement for fitting
seatbelts for all seating positions.
Any
considerations with regard to the retro-fitting of seatbelts in large buses need
to be referred to the National Transport Council’s / Bus Industry developed
publication Bus Seatbelt Retrofit
Guidelines which was completed in 2006 and is available from the NTC.
Several
other issues arise in relation to seatbelts on buses which relate to standee and
speed limits. Official research findings have shown that the comparative risks of
standing on large city buses is very low; passengers should therefore be allowed
to stand on urban buses when all (other) available seats are taken and hand
support rails/hand straps are in place.
The BIC believes however that the Federal Government should move to
legislate in co-operation with State Governments and the Bus Industry to limit
the speed of buses carrying standing passengers to 80 km’s per hour.
The
Bus Industry Confederation is also concerned that the mandating of seatbelts on
school and route service vehicles will disrupt the day-to-day operational
running times of these vehicles which generally travel at slow speeds and
regularly stop and start to allow passengers on and off the vehicle.
A further issue of concern to the Bus Industry Confederation in relation
to the mandating of seatbelts is who is responsible to ensure that seatbelts are
actually used, how this might be managed and what liability or other issues may
arise where seatbelted vehicles are in operation but passengers are not willing
to wear the seat belts.
We
hope this information articulates the bus industry’s view that the mandating
of seatbelts on large buses is a problematic issue that requires involvement
from state and federal governments to achieve a workable solution.
The BIC is Ph:
(02) 6247 5990 – Fax: (02) 6230 6898 – www.bic.asn.au
admin@bic.asn.au