Drivers not to blame (From Gazette Series)

Drivers not to blame

A COACH driver has spoken out over who should be made responsible for children wearing seat belts on school journeys.

Bob Sherman, a Berkeley coach driver with 30 years experience, told the Gazette that drivers could not be made responsible because their main concern was the road ahead.

In a Gazette article two weeks ago a worried parent said somebody needed to take responsibility for making children use seat belts, following the death of five girls in a coach accident in Ireland.

In reply Mr Sherman said that at 40mph a coach would travel 176ft, or the equivalent of four and a half coach lengths, in the time it took for a driver to look behind to check on passengers.

"It is quite frightening when you work it out," he said.

"As drivers we are paid to look out of the front. If we did turn around and tell the children to put their belts on and there was an accident we would get in trouble.

"When the children are on the bus we can tell them to wear the belts but that is all we can do. Parents should tell them to put their belts on and they should take notice but they don't.

"If the children did what they were supposed to do and took notice when they were told what they should do we would not have anything to worry about."

Mr Sherman said a lot of bus drivers would share his views.

He continued: "Parents cannot expect drivers to be responsible for making children wear seat belts. If we were, the next thing the paper would be doing is reporting a coach accident because the coach driver turned around to tell the children to put their belts on. Otherwise it would take four hours to do the school run because the drive would be stopping to look behind all the time.

"When we take our test, one of the questions we are asked is what is your first concern. The answer they want to hear is that the drivers first concern is the safety and welfare of the passengers. If you don't get that right you fail. Looking behind you to check passengers are wearing seatbelts is not looking out for the safety of the passengers."