Safety

Motor Coach Safety - General Information (CANADA)

• Mileage traveled: 200 million km annually in Canada (107 million inter-city scheduled, and 88 million km Charter/tour)

• buses are the safest vehicle on the road

• bus passenger fatalities account for less than 1% (0.3%) of all highway fatalities

• Transport Canada has studied bus safety and reported:

• "injury rates place buses among the safest modes of transport"
• "buses provide passengers with remarkably safe travel compared with other road vehicles and other forms of transport"
• "the data show that travel by bus is generally safe"

(Source: Transport Canada Review of Bus Safety Issues, November 1998)

• “Canada’s bus safety record is extremely good”
• “Bus passengers are rarely killed or suffer major injury”

(Source: Transport Canada Bus Safety Consultations Final Report, Feb. 2001 TP 13713 E)

• but even one accident or fatality is too many when the safety of school children, tourists, sports teams, seniors or commuters is at stake.

• bus operators take a pro-active approach to ensuring the safety record of the industry is continually improved

• the best carriers in the industry know that investing in safety pays

• bus operators are subject to a comprehensive set of Federal and Provincial regulations which set strict standards covering:

- driver qualifications and medical condition
- driver hours of work and log books
- daily (pre-trip) inspections
- preventative maintenance programs and "in-service" vehicle fitness standards
- periodic (government controlled) safety inspections
- facility audits by government Carrier Safety Auditors
- insurance