Letter: Safety on plane, coach and bus

Mr Robert Kellock
Monday 23 May 1994 23:02 BST
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Sir: As a coach driver I feel obliged to reply to Sue Cooper (letters, 20 May). Coaches do not speed 'down the fast lane'. All coaches that are capable of travelling at more than 70mph are required by law to have a speed limiter fitted, restricting them to that speed. The illusion of 'speeding' coaches is often created by the fact that non-commercial vehicles do not have speedometers as accurately calibrated as the tachoraphs that coaches are also required to have fitted.

The comparison drawn between 'similar-sized (sic) lorries' that are banned from the outside lane and coaches is irrelevant, due to the simple fact that HGVs are limited to 60mph on motorways as opposed to the 70mph that coaches can legally and safely travel at. Banning coaches from the outside lane of motorways would serve only to create dangerous bunching and could leave up to 80 passengers at a time sandwiched between slower moving vehicles.

A minibus driven by a non- professional driver on an occasional basis represents a far greater threat to safety than a coach travelling at 70mph on a motorway - a task that the coach was specifically designed for. This is due to the high levels of skill required to pass the PCV driving test and is no doubt reflected by the unequivocal statistic that travelling by coach is more than eight times safer than travelling by car.

Yours faithfully,

ROBERT KELLOCK

Altrincham,

Cheshire

20 May

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