Motor Coach Industry Review Ordered
Prince George, B.C. – Saying crashes of Motor Coaches in B.C. are “very rare” Minister of Transportation, Todd Stone says there have been two serious crashes over the past couple of years.
The most recent happened last month when a coach carrying 30 passengers, crashed on the Coquihalla, causing serious injuries.
Stone says even though there is a comprehensive bus safety program in the province, he has directed his Ministry to conduct a safety review of the Motor Coach industry in B.C.
Stone says it will be a comprehensive thorough look at all aspects of the industry including B.C.’s regulatory measures “The review will include best practices in neighbouring jurisdictions, looking for innovative changes that have proven to have a positive impact on this industry.”
Noting the Motor Coach industry is a “critical component to the tourism industry ” Stone says the Tourism industry will be among those consulted during the course of the review.
Stone expects the review will be completed early in the new year.
Comments
maybe they should look at all those derailings by CN Rail….those seem to happen on a regular basis and never investigated…..
Has even one of them been investigated? not that I am aware of..
bcracer… Rail companies play by a different set of rules.
The statement regarding ” ..best practices in neighbouring jurisdictions..” leads me to believe that no real review will take place. They will copy/paste what they believe they need and claim that there was a review. This is BC, our roads/terrain and weather is different than neighbouring jurisdictions. What is common in other places, does not really fit here.
Commuting from Van-PG one Christmas season, had a bus driver from Ont. It was a last minute (overflow charter) by a well known bus company. The driver was admittedly tired and had never driven through the Fraser Canyon. Scary trip! When we stopped in Cache Creek, I spoke with him and found out that he was coherced to take this trip. He admitted that our BC winter roads scared him. He continued as far as Williams Lake to get a driver swap. I sat behind him from CC to WL to coach him through the roads. Regulations allowed this to happen.
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BTW.. I have never taken the bus again since.
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Many of the Motor Coach accidents have happened because of driver fatigue or driver inexperience.
I love it when those piece of crap Greyhounds pass you on the highway, doing 130km/hr …. no regard for the lives inside or out. I think they share the same employees as the PG Exhibition…
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