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Why do bus companies get away with it?

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yorkie

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lincolnshire/4422040.stm

As he drove away, prosecutor Michael Fowler said, the driver, who was covering a shift in a bus he had not driven before, suffered "pedal confusion".

He hit the accelerator instead of the brake, causing the packed double-decker to "leap forward".

If that was on the railways, the driver would not be allowed to drive the train, and rightly so.

So, why is the bus company not in trouble? Why are the rules different?

If there had been 5 deaths on the railways due to an incident like this it would have been covered extensively in the media (and probably had a silly documentary made about it to make the whole industry look bad), there would have been outrage in the media. Rail safety would be called into question. They would quote witnesses saying how 'dangerous' rail travel is.

Yet I don't remember hearing about this crash at the time.

And there is no attempt to blame anyone but the driver.

Why are buses so different?

Why are these 5 lives considered to be less important and far less of a concern than the 4 lives who died at Hatfield?

Why does this story just get a small mention, blaming just one man, yet something like the Hatfield crash has has an in depth feature on it (even though Hatfield was just one man's fault, unlike this one)?
 
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Max

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yorkie said:
If there had been 5 deaths on the railways due to an incident like this it would have been covered extensively in the media (and probably had a silly documentary made about it to make the whole industry look bad), there would have been outrage in the media. Rail safety would be called into question. They would quote witnesses saying how 'dangerous' rail travel is.

Yet I don't remember hearing about this crash at the time.

Actually, there has been significant coverage of this story in the local media here. Updates have regularly been featured on Look North (Hull, East Yorks and Lincolnshire), and I remember there was quite a stir about it at the time.
 

Guinness

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It's the same rule that applys to all road vehicles, including PCV and HGV (Some HGV vehicles do not apply). If you pass your test you can drive any car you want. If you pass your PCV test, you can drive any Bus/Coach you want and so on.

The problem is the DVLA expect people to familiarise themselves with the new type of vehicle they are driving e.g. Where the Horn is, Indicators etc. And by changing the system to where you have to retake a test with a Bus would mean many more L-Plates on the road....
 

Met Driver

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I'm slightly baffled as to how the driver could have suffered from 'Pedal Confusion'. Surely the 'order' of the pedals doesn't differ between vehicles? Isn't it always A-B-C from right to left, as is the case in cars?
 

Guinness

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Seth said:
I'm slightly baffled as to how the driver could have suffered from 'Pedal Confusion'. Surely the 'order' of the pedals doesn't differ between vehicles? Isn't it always A-B-C from right to left, as is the case in cars?

Most Buses have no Clutch due to the Automatic/Semi-Automatic Gears.

I agree with you Seth. I'm confused with this too!
 

Met Driver

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Chaz said:
Most Buses have no Clutch due to the Automatic/Semi-Automatic Gears.

Good point - I didn't think of that. That narrows it down to two pedals, so I'm now even more confused as to how he could have made this error. :?
 

Tom B

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Why wasn't he trained on it? I would have thought that all drivers would be trained on all the types of bus at that depot - there would hardly be that many (at a quick count Donny has 8 main types).
 

Jim

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Can't be bothered to read everyone's comments :oops: but WHATEVER bus you drive, I swear to god the pedels are the same way round :roll:
 

tramboy

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I'm sure I read somewhere that the driver was doing an extra shift...which may or may not explain it. Pedal confusion though, is not something which should happen to a bus driver with experience...whether it be in a new bus or an old bus.

If it was a busy day, then he might (note this is speculation, not any sort of evidence at all) have been sorting change out the ticket machine etc etc , which drivers seem to like to do as they pull out of stops. Lincolnshire Roadcar used to be entirely made up of old vehicles, which can explain some confusion. I have it on good authority from a TrentBarton driver that if you don't go to a familiarisation session on a new bus type, you have little idea where things are...and it's not the can;t be bothered to go thing, it's the "I'm working at the moment whilst you do this" thing. This left a driver unable to start a new bus at a terminus...and had to ring Broadmarsh to ask how to do that (if anyone's interested it was when TB started getting the new Scania fleet)

There has been significant local media coverage of this...it not only made local news aroudn the area, but was on Central/East Midlands Today and other papers in the Midlands.

Regards

Dave
 

yorkie

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Incidents like this are always in local media, but nationally it's a non-event, unfortunately.

A minor derailment (e.g. the Lancaster-Preston or Liverpool ones) get far, far more national coverage.

I didn't know about the extra shift, but again they should be subject to strict rules about that just as train drivers staff are.

By the way I got confused over Heck and Hatfield earlier, it was Heck that was one man's fault and it still got more coverage, and here's the link. Note all the other stories beneath it. You don't see similar sites set up for road crashes.
 

Tom B

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Ah - Lincolnshire RoadCar. I've heard many things about them, few of which are positive. Their buses appear to be clapped out and ill maintained and frequently break down. I've also seen a Dart substitute for an Olympian on a school run before :!:.
 

David

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Cockfosters said:
Ah - Lincolnshire RoadCar. I've heard many things about them, few of which are positive. Their buses appear to be clapped out and ill maintained and frequently break down.
I know. I have to put up with them. They are noisy and smelly, as well as unreliable. They are the reason I don't use buses.
 

Tom B

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Disorganised too - I know someone's bus ran out of fuel because someone forgot to fill it the night before! Think that was on the 351.
 

Lewisham2221

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Just to comment on a few things:

As already mentioned, this incident did actually recieve quite wide media attention at the time, I certainly remember hearing about from a number of sources.

Secondly, has anyone ever considered that perhaps rail incidents recieve greater media coverage due to the greater disruption caused. Let me use an imaginary example

If a train was to derail on a major rail route and nobody was injured, the disruption caused would be massive.

If a bus was to crash on a major bus route and nobody was injured, traffic would almost immediatley be diverted via nearby roads and the disruption would be minimal.

In the case of the rail incident, it could quite easily cause disruption to lots of people all over the country. The bus incident would cause disruption for a few people in a local area. Media interest for something that affects lots of people nationwide = high, national coverage. Interest for an incident affecting a few, local people = comparitively low, local media interest.

And, just to finish, despite the above comparison - which was only used because of the comparisons constantly made by other forum members, Roads and Railways are two totally, completely, utterly different ball games and shouldn't constantly be compared in the ways that some forum members consistently do.
 

Tom B

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Our school bus had unplanned conversion work undertaken on it last week when it became a single decker after an argument with a bridge. One P45 now approaching...
 

OTS

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Royalscot said:
All in the last week, that'll please Yorkie 8)

Think before you post!!! :roll: :roll:
Do you really mean to suggest that Yorkie takes pleasure from people being killed in road accidents, because I for one certainly don't find it in the least bit amusing. :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x
 

OTS

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Marv said:
Just to comment on a few things:

As already mentioned, this incident did actually recieve quite wide media attention at the time, I certainly remember hearing about from a number of sources.

Secondly, has anyone ever considered that perhaps rail incidents recieve greater media coverage due to the greater disruption caused. Let me use an imaginary example

If a train was to derail on a major rail route and nobody was injured, the disruption caused would be massive.

If a bus was to crash on a major bus route and nobody was injured, traffic would almost immediatley be diverted via nearby roads and the disruption would be minimal.

In the case of the rail incident, it could quite easily cause disruption to lots of people all over the country. The bus incident would cause disruption for a few people in a local area. Media interest for something that affects lots of people nationwide = high, national coverage. Interest for an incident affecting a few, local people = comparitively low, local media interest.

And, just to finish, despite the above comparison - which was only used because of the comparisons constantly made by other forum members, Roads and Railways are two totally, completely, utterly different ball games and shouldn't constantly be compared in the ways that some forum members consistently do.

Good to see someone giving the subject some thought, rather than the usual easier method of blind media bashing! Well done Marv.
 
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