I’m currently on a very crowded bus with many people standing up, even though we are on highways. Why can I stand unsecured while on the bus? Is it a matter of being able to safely get people out in an emergency? Thanks!
edit: I’m in Canada 🇨🇦
In: Other
In Australia, or at least in some states, a seat belt must be worn if the bus has them fitted. Most hired coaches/school buses have seat belts fitted. There have been some awful bus accidents here with school buses.
It has most to due with their large weight, and the height of the seated passengers.
Few cars are going to hit high enough to hit right where the passengers are, and they weigh enough to tank a good amount of force without transferring it all to the passengers.
Many coach busses have started to install seatbelts. It is safer than not having them. City busses don’t have them because they are usually moving at slow speeds or in dedicated lanes, and making passengers wear them would limit the capacity and take a lot of time.
When a bus does crash, it is so big that the passengers will be mostly fine but the poor Burger King will be destroyed.
https://abc7ny.com/post/brooklyn-crash-accident-mta-bus-slams-burger-king/15093434/
Many buses in the inner city both travel at low speeds and stop very frequently. Having to buckle/unbuckle a seat belt will take a lot of time. So there it‘s a trade off between speed, convenience, and security, but usually it’s not problematic thanks to slow speeds inside the city.
As soon as a bus enters a free way or any road where it has to go faster, this automatically means that it will not stop as frequently and that the speed is higher, making seat belts a very good option and usually required.
I wear a seabelt if there is one. Why wouldn’t you?
I remember post 9/11 an aviatrix of a Piper Navajo (light twin engine aircraft 7,000lb max, 8 passenger) made the analogy that an aircraft like hers being temporarily banned from flying made no sense. This is because a 757/767, with its weight and potential speed, was literally like comparing a city bus to a bicycle. Momentum = mass (velocity). A bus has a huge momentum compared to most things it could crash into. More mass = safer. Also a bus is very crashworthy
Latest Answers