My wife & I have just returned from a cheap 3 day break to Blackpool which involved return coach travel. No problems whatsoever with the coach driver. Being a professional driver myself I tend ( as no doubt a lot of you guys do ) is look to pick fault in any other professional drivers skills. Well I am pleased to say our driver ‘Stevie’ was an absolutely excellent professional driver, no only was his driving impeccable so was his manners and attitude towards his passengers although some of them could do with lessons in manners its fair to say.
Anyway my point is at the start of journey from both ends of the journey involved an announcement by the driver telling the passengers the importance of wearing the safety belts fitted to all coach seats these days and not just the safety aspect but the fact it is now a legal requirement. Do you know how many of the 60 or so passengers put on their seatbelt■■? 2!!! My wife & myself. It is quite ironic safety campaigners fought to have this law introduced only for it to be blatantly ignored but of course if a coach is in an accident and anyone is killed or injured they want the drivers head. Given the ages of some of these passengers ( 65+) you would think they had more sense and responsibility to their own safety.
Even at my work as a distance driver I always wear my safety belt which started initially with a truck I had that had an irritating seatbelt warning.The easiest way to stop it irritating?? Put the safety belt on. It is also the law to wear the device in a truck and driving a 44 tonne truck does not make you invincible, all it has is a nice big windscreen to get thrown through. I f you don’t believe me you could always ask my wife who when she worked as a casualty nurse she had to deal with some horrific injuries inflicted on people who decided not to wear their safety belt.
It would be interesting to see what you guys view on the wearing of these safety devices. One thing for sure, I do not fancy being a coach driver when you are responsible for the safety of people who show little little regard for their own safety.
In reality the coach driver can only tell the passengers to put belts on (as he did) - difficult to check/enforce that all passengers are compliant, for any or all the journey. It’s sometimes an issue on schools contracts as the kids tend to roam around the coach - which then becomes the driver’s responsibility. The seatbelts stop them wandering if worn - still difficult to be 100% sure though, as they maybe sat quietly without seatbelt on.
Daz1970:
In reality the coach driver can only tell the passengers to put belts on (as he did) - difficult to check/enforce that all passengers are compliant, for any or all the journey. It’s sometimes an issue on schools contracts as the kids tend to roam around the coach - which then becomes the driver’s responsibility. The seatbelts stop them wandering if worn - still difficult to be 100% sure though, as they maybe sat quietly without seatbelt on.
Yeah Daz, The driver advised them from the safety aspect and the legal aspect but they chose to ignore his advice so just lets say the bus overturned, how many of the passengers would have ended up dead on the carraigeway because they chose not to wear their safety belt and then of course the doo-gooders would be screaming for the drivers head.
I know…makes you wonder doesn’t it! Just out of interest was the coach fitted with lap-belts or 3-point(car style)? The 3-point ones are better & there is a train of thought that says lap-belts can do more harm than good.
the driver me a coach has to point out seat belts are fitted.
and should be used as a requirement by law.
the driver is then responsible to ensure that a courier if present puts there belt on.
beyond that its the responsibility of the passengers to use them,
if a crash happened and punter thrown out of the coach its not the drivers fault.
imagine how many stops to check that all the punters had belted up!
Darwinism at work i think. survival of intelligence
Daz1970:
I know…makes you wonder doesn’t it! Just out of interest was the coach fitted with lap-belts or 3-point(car style)? The 3-point ones are better & there is a train of thought that says lap-belts can do more harm than good.
Yeah Daz it was a nice modern coach fully fitted with 3 point seatbelts that were in no way uncomfortable e.g. I am 6ft 3ins and had no problem with wearing it. I remember when it first became law to wear seatbelts in the front seats of cars and a lot of scare stories were going around about people being trapped in cars by seatbelts etc but I certainly think they have prevented more deaths and/or serious injuries than they have caused.
bertiebus:
the driver me a coach has to point out seat belts are fitted.
and should be used as a requirement by law.
the driver is then responsible to ensure that a courier if present puts there belt on.
beyond that its the responsibility of the passengers to use them,
if a crash happened and punter thrown out of the coach its not the drivers fault.
imagine how many stops to check that all the punters had belted up!
Darwinism at work i think. survival of intelligence
I see where your coming from Bertie and my point is not having a go at the driver but at the passengers who show total disregard for their own safety and as is always the case if any commercial vehicle is in any kind of accident where the public are injured or killed the driver is always considered as guilty until proved innocent
bertiebus:
the driver me a coach has to point out seat belts are fitted.
and should be used as a requirement by law.
the driver is then responsible to ensure that a courier if present puts there belt on.
beyond that its the responsibility of the passengers to use them,
My understanding of those 2006 seatbelt regs was the following.
1)Verbal announcement from driver,
2)or audio/visual announcement,
3)or blue seatbelt pictograms min 1 per two seats.
As we had at the time the relevant number and position of no3 stickers up, there was no need for me to be telling everyone on the minibus to get their belts on as well. (Plus it would of made hee-haw difference )
Been on the coaches 15 + yrs now just dont understand why passengers wont put a bloody seat belt on. What i would like to see is the use of these unmarked police lorries passing a coach talking video of them not wearing seatbelts. Plod is quick enough to nail a few lorry drivers for not wearing one.
In my day driving Buses and Coaches, seat belts were not compulsory nor were they fitted.
Were I given the opportunity to do it all over again, and most certainly in this day and age, I would most definitely wear my seat belt, as I would do, if driving my own vehicle.
Common sense rules surely!
ND888 BIGJ:
Been on the coaches 15 + yrs now just dont understand why passengers wont put a bloody seat belt on. What i would like to see is the use of these unmarked police lorries passing a coach talking video of them not wearing seatbelts. Plod is quick enough to nail a few lorry drivers for not wearing one.
If doing a schools private hire I always check that every seat belt is in working order and fastened before taking the bus out, so that no -one can say that there was something wrong with it.
it would seem from the posts so far that the general opinion is safety belts should be worn. When I worked 5 days on 3 days off everytime I booked on to start my week my trucks safety belt was forever wrapped around the back or front of the seat to disable the warning buzzer. As I said earlier the safest and most practical way to disable the annoying warning light & buzzer is TO WEAR THE BELT. Some lorry drivers think that its macho not to wear the safety belt but at the end of the day it is the law and should be obeyed. Funnily enough since I started wearing my belt in the truck I actually do not feel comfortable or right without my belt on. Just a force of habit for me I guess Guys.
ND888 BIGJ:
Been on the coaches 15 + yrs now just dont understand why passengers wont put a bloody seat belt on. What i would like to see is the use of these unmarked police lorries passing a coach talking video of them not wearing seatbelts. Plod is quick enough to nail a few lorry drivers for not wearing one.
If they nick a truck driver it might make a line in the local paper, and then once the campaign has finished the police can do a big media blitz about how they’ve stopped loads of illegal trucks and their drivers.
Do it to a coach load of OAP’s and they’ll get loads of high profile negative publicity before their own media spin machine can get into gear.
Could there be a system on the drivers dash that would show which seat number is not belted up.
Not moving until the warning light goes out.
If a fleet of police motorbikes pulled over the coaches,the passengers would then belt up by the time the coppers boarded the coach.
There have been many fatal coach crashes in Europe.
You do wonder if they had belts on or not.
toby1234abc:
Could there be a system on the drivers dash that would show which seat number is not belted up.
Not moving until the warning light goes out.
If a fleet of police motorbikes pulled over the coaches,the passengers would then belt up by the time the coppers boarded the coach.
There have been many fatal coach crashes in Europe.
You do wonder if they had belts on or not.
Don’t forget, it’s legal for passengers to use the toilet on a moving coach - you’d have trouble doing that with the seatbelt still fastened.
Coaches were the same rules as cars, if a belt is fitted it must be worn, anyone under 14 was drivers responsibility but only at the time of departure. Most runs with kids under 14 though were the swimming baths / sports day etc which had teachers accompany the children and the responsibility was soon passed onto them
Hiya…i go with the law…except in my 1964 aec no belts and not anywhere to fix them without
a ton of angle iron…i know of a young couple who got burned to death in a triumph spitfire
many years ago. this 22 year old had this car and the seat belts was used. they was driving round
a bend (possibly to quickly)and run along a stone wall squashing the car. the seat belts was down
at the side of the seats and the tunnel.these was trapped and they couldn’t unfasten the buckle,
the couple was not injured at all,the just couldn’t get out, a farmer coming the
other direction couldn’t do a thing but watch in horror as the car burned up.
John
The rules relating to the fitment and wearing of seatbelts are very complex and in some cases contradictory.
As an example I have a coach that has seatbelts for the 57 passengers but does not nor does it require one for the driver.
Another point, the VOSA PSV Inspection Manual has 168 pages relating to the requirements for the MOT, 22 pages relating to the fitment and maintenance of seatbelts alone.
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