* Lords amendment on Monday, 24 October, 2016
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb has tabled an amendment to the Bus Services Bill aiming to improve the safety record of bus operators [1]. New figures show that in 2015 there were 5,381 collisions with buses and coaches, of which 64 resulted in deaths and 638 resulted in serious injuries. Buses are three times more likely than cars to be involved in a collision resulting in a death or serious injury [2].
The amendment would require all bus operators to subscribe to a confidential reporting scheme for employees called CIRAS, which is already standard in the rail industry and has been required for bus operators in London since July 2015. It would also require bus operators and authorities to collect and publish bus casualty data, allowing the public to see which operators have the best and the worst safety record.
Jenny Jones said:
“Far too many people are being killed or left with serious injuries after collisions with buses. I want to see more buses on our streets, but I also want to see fewer people suffer from collisions. The Government has an opportunity to improve the safety record of this essential mode of transport.
“Bus drivers and garage workers across England should be able to confidentially report any worries. Green Party politicians, working with safety campaigners, persuaded Transport for London to adopt this scheme, which is already standard in the rail industry and London underground. Now it’s time for the Government to extend it nationwide. The public and authorities should also be able to see the safety record of each operator, which will hopefully put some public pressure on them to improve.”
Tom Kearney, a bus crash survivor and safety campaigner, said:
“I am delighted Baroness Jones is proposing the only language in the Bus Services Bill that addresses operational safety performance issues. Since I’m just one of thousands of UK residents and visitors who’ve been seriously injured by a bus in the past decade, I believe this amendment would give much comfort to us survivors that our pain and suffering were not in vain.”
Notes:
1. The amendment has been tabled for consideration on October 24, and can be found on pages 20-21: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2016-2017/0058/17058-RL.pdf1
DfT statistics ‘RAS20001 - Vehicles involved in reported accidents and involvement rates by vehicle type and severity of accident, Great Britain, 2005 - 2015’, https://t.co/FmPkujIlG4