SAFETY OF BUS TRAVEL.
Page 63
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A New Newspaper Champions 'theCause of Bus Operators and Emphasizes the Safety of Journeys by Road.
BTJS operators in the North of England have found a welcome champion of their cause in the lay Press. A new evening newspaper in Newcastle, which from its 'inception has shown a friendly attitude tOwards the trade, recently published a striking reply to allegations of road dangers and the safety of road travel generally.
In another local paper a statement was given showing that during last year there had been 6,138 deaths on the road, but figures collected by the new paper have done, much to relieve any feelings of anxiety which bus passengers may have had. It is pointed out that during last year vile bus company
operating extensive local and long-distance. services in the north carried 38,725,000 passengers over a distance of approximately 15,340,000 miles, and there were only. 51 cases where passengers were injured, th4. majority being slight. The Company was involved in only one fatal accident during the year.
"One fatal accident out of nearly 39 million passengers," states the new paper, "is surely a tribute to the efficiency of north-country-owned services."
Another local concern had only three claims against it for personal injury, and was not involved in any fatal accidents, although its vehicles covered approximately 5,254,400 miles last year.
Then again, i further large northcountry company, the vehicles of which covered last year a mileage of approximately nine millions, carrying some 21 million passengers, averaged one accident for every 42,000 miles. There were four fatal accidents during • the year, and about 150 cases in, which minor injuries were sustained.
"Thus," it is stated, "these three large companies with immediate northern associations have carried approximately 64 million passengers, and there 'have been only five fatal accidents.
"The number of accidents, so far as the north is concerned, is infinitely small compared with the number of passengers carried and the mileage covered," is another comment which should counteract the effect of the " scare " reports in other sections of the lay Press. Bus operators feel that the lead given by the Newcastle paper in question might well be followed in other parts of the country. Certain it is that when incomplete statistics are Quoted they cad be most misleading.