Province finds tour buses safe, but improvements welcomed
Posted November 25, 2016 12:05 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – Getting on a tour bus in BC is safe, according to a new review, despite a number of serious crashes in recent years. Over the last decade, crash rates for tour buses have dropped at an average of 5.4 per cent per year in this province.
“Nevertheless, as government, we have a responsibility to be vigilant and always be prepared to take a closer look at the motor coach industry to review it, to compare it with other jurisdictions, and to see whether there’s anything more that we can do to improve the safety of the industry,” says Transportation Minister Todd Stone.
This is slightly better than other areas which have seen declines including Alberta at an annual decline of 3.3 per cent and Ontario at a yearly drop of 4 per cent.
“Evolving technology does leave room for continual improvement in safety standards for the industry,” explains Stone. “We are supportive of bringing in emerging technologies and best practices in Canada as it would further increase safety for motor coach passengers and drivers.”
This follows two serious crashes involving tour buses on the Coquihalla Highway in the summers of 2014 and 2015 — one in which 38 people were injured, and another where 43 people were hurt. After this review was launched, there was another collision between a tour bus and a car south of Chase which left one man dead and dozens injured.
A group representing the motor coach industry is glad BC’s buses are mostly safe and agrees there’s always more which can be done to improve passenger safety. About one-quarter of bus crashes were due to driver error.
Meantime, American lawmakers have just passed a legislation to force bus operators to have electronic logging systems on board — something this report also recommends.
President of Motor Coach Canada Doug Switzer believes something similar is coming to this country. “The position of the Canadian government has been, we’re waiting to see what the Americans come up with, because it doesn’t make sense to have two different rules on the same continent,” says Switzer. “Particularly with so much cross-border traffic. Whatever they come up with, we have to be in step with.”
The report also recommends three-point passenger harnesses and Electronic Stability Control systems to help people manoeuver around obstacles.
The bus industry is safe but companies say they’re always in favour of improving safety as it awaits new technology already being mandated in the US.
