You’ve heard Peter talk about the huge growth of inter-city bus travel—after all, it’s affordable and it can even be efficient if you plan it right. But what about bus safety?
As many as 700 million passengers travel by bus each year, which puts it on par with air travel. But there are legitimate safety issues. An average of 21 people are killed each year in motorcoach crashes, and nearly 8,000 injured.
Most recently, the government has made a rule that inter-city buses and tour buses must be equipped with seat belts.
A lot of the new coaches out there already have three-point harnesses, but you won’t see it on all motorcoaches until late 2016.
But this is a great move. Rollovers are a huge concern in bus accidents, and many of those killed were actually ejected from the bus.
If safety advocates get their way, you can expect to see more changes in the future, like stronger roofs, improved window glazing, and better fire suppression.
So keep watching this space for more developments.
For more information, the car and bus travel archives.
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