Editorial — Probe into Coquihalla bus crash should look at seat belts

SUNDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — A natural question arising out of the terrible tour-bus crash on the Coquihalla this past Thursday is — why aren’t seat belts mandatory on buses as they are in other vehicles?

It’s a question that gets asked every time there’s a bad bus crash, whether it be a school bus, tour bus or regular bus service. In the case of the Coquihalla tour bus, the vehicle tipped over on its side, skidded across the highway and ended in an upright position when it hit the ditch.

Dozens of people were hurt; at this writing, three are still in critical condition. Logic suggests that if the passengers had been belted in, the injuries would have been fewer and less severe.

Yet many argue that seat belts aren’t practical or warranted. Buses are built for safety, they say, insisting they’re safer than cars. In the case of school buses, another argument is that the rate of accidents doesn’t justify the expense of installing seat belts — between $6,000 and $7,000 per bus.

Besides, they say, kids just won’t wear them.

While those kinds of arguments are hard to accept, it’s just as hard to justify the lack of seat belts in tour buses and regular passenger buses.

So far, an informal Armchair Mayor News poll indicates about 70 per cent believe seat belts should be made mandatory for all buses. At the least, the investigation into the Coquihalla accident should include examining a scenario in which passengers were belted in, and whether seat belts would have reduced the large number of injuries.

It seems highly probable it would have.