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Coach safety belts have low priority
Page 19
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• The introduction of safety belts for all coach passengers is not a high priority, roads and traffic minister Peter Bottomley has told MPs.
In the commons this week he said that the Government intended to make new coaches meet European standards for the flamability of coach interiors, the strength of coach seats and anti-lock braking.
Tory backbencher James Cran said that even after the new rules came in on 1 October, most coach pasengers will be unrestrained and would be injured by broken glass from the side windows if a coach were involved in a roll-over accident. Cran proposed that the provision of restraints on all passengers would be money well spent, and claimed it would add only 1.7% to the cost of the coach, as the consumers' association claimed.
Bottomley said he would be happy to discuss the issue with the Bus & Coach Council, but the important point was to try to deal with the most Likely causes of crashes. It was worth remembering, he said, that travelling by coach was much safer than travelling in one's own car.