Seatbelts in Coaches?

[beryllium]

Will it now become compulsory for all coaches to have seatbelts? after such a dreadful accident :-(
I thought they were on tachographs after hearing the driver was aledgidly(sp)? speeding...

[IggyB]

that legislation is in place and as i understand from the news reports national express coaches all have seat belts, plus signs informing passengers that they are required to use them and the driver is meant to make an announcement along those lines before every journey.

info on legislation here
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_road s/documents/page/dft_roads_506857.hcsp#P34_371 2

[LazyGun]

Seatbelts are already compulsory on coaches, and have been for some while.
It is compulsory for all coach companies to have seatbelts for all passengers ( although kids under 14 are exempt). Additionally, coaches have to have a verbal announcement, a guide card at each seat, or a video presentation about seatbelts.
According to reports I have seen, its is Nationals policy to do all 3.
It is however, down to the passengers whether they wear them or not.

A tachograph was present on the coach, and I am sure it is being examined now.

[beryllium]

hmmmm, seems a bit of a grey area. Especially the transport of children. This was a double decker type coach in the accident and reads that this law doesn't seem to apply to such vehicles,
Normal double decker buses don't have seatbelts either.

[beryllium]

So if the passengers chose not to wear them and they have ended up dead or dismembered then there is no case to answer as to why they ended up like that as they chose not to protect themselves.
If the driver hadn't been allegedly speeding would the injuries have been so fatal?
Thank you for the info btw....

[LazyGun]

Double Decker buses are exempted from the legislation because they are designed to run with standing passengers, and in an urban environment / lower speeds etc.

As to the cause (s) of the accident... its far too early to speculate, surely?

[beryllium]

yes I agree it's too early to speculate. Unfortunately I caught the news before it was time to switch over and as usual you only get the tit bits of the driver being arrested and nothing else.

[kwicky]

The driver was said to be doing 80mph on a sharp bend entering on to the M25 from the M4. It was said he was trying to make up time lost at Heathrow because of the baggage fiasco. The problem is they run to a tight time schedule so I suppose the onus is on the driver to meet his tartget.

[laurence2]

The Driver ''IF'' he was speeding, obviously should'nt of just to make up time, your right the onus is on the driver, or may i say, thats where the buck stops, as a Train Driver i only know to well how tight journey times are. his schedule was more than likely very tight, especially with late departures etc, but you won't be getting National express taking any responsibility, as they will quote that the driver {if it was his fault} was aware of the regulations & speeds

Lets just wait and see before any judgement is made

[beryllium]

Do the drivers get fined for running late? I know timetables are written but the trains don't take a blind bit of notice of their timetables do they? would National Express be fined for not being on time? I wonder why the driver felt under that sort of pressure in the first place?

[laurence2]

beryllium,

What Train timetable are you referring to { don't take a bit of blind notice}?

[beryllium]

sorry Laurence, just my man is a commuter with south east and we have mares with them.... although Connex had to go thank gawd!!! I do know some drivers still have a pride in themselves and work hard....

[laurence2]

cross posting now.

Yes, the southeast timetable is rather shambolic i grant you.
most Drivers take pride in their work, its the crap management who look for profit and PPM { public performance measure} meaning trains running on time, you might see something like our trains {southeast} run 82% on time {thats PPM}

[beryllium]

laurence, you can't speed though as a train driver can you? surely you have to run a much safer train service as you have lights to adhere to etc. Everything has to run accordingly doesn't it?
A coach driver has no control over road conditions though do they?

[beryllium]

lol, are you south east laurence? I know it's the fat cats.....
my dad commutes from Bournemouth to the City everyday and he has a ball :-)

[laurence2]

it is possible to speed, but the difference is

1. your running to a timetable
2. they can download a train { data recorder}
3. we have inspectors { who can speed gun you} like the
police do
4. if we speed say 70mph on a line that your only allow to
drive at 30mph, your liable to derail the train
5. we don't because where very professional

[laurence2]

i currently do a mainline route between London & Birmingham, tho i use to be a driver at Victoria Eastern, and victoria central, and waterloo, and selhurst, and strawberry hill, and London bridge, actually i've driven all over the southeast/west & central

And no i'm not a anorak, its a well paid job with a good pension at the end of it, and i do my job professionally, thats providing i'm not sorting out union business ie paydeals, disciplines, working conditions etc etc

[beryllium]

wow, I wouldn't have thought you could speed because of other trains on the line. And to be speed gunned? even more wowed by it. I love walking by the international train tracks with the dog as they just whistle by.... and my man travels with a proper train spotter lol. For christmas? he gave mr B a cd... we thought how sweet until we opened it and it was sounds of different trains... we love it!!! :-) our train spotter friend really does record everything in his diary.

[shopper]

I was on a coach trip last week. The driver announced seat belts were fitted, but it was up to us if we chose to use them. We were sat right behind the drivers seat, and he was often using his mobile phone to his ear, driving with one hand. Some of these calls were from his head office, because he then gave us updates. One call was a personal one, he was discussing getting a chinese meal! On the way home another coach of the same company chose to overtake us on a narrow lane, just to get in front. There was a blind bend coming up, and he only just made it before a car came round the corner. \Even worse was the driver of the feeder coach on the way home. He was driving in the middle lane of the motorway, In driving rain. One hand on the wheel, and texting on his mobile phone with the other hand down by his seat. Glancing from his phone up to the road for several minutes. He thought he couldnt be seen until I shocked him when I layed into him at the next stopover. Im going to report them all.

[beryllium]

Yep, I would have been having words too shopper.

Perhaps it will now be compulsory for passengers to wear the seatbelts.