Motor Coach Safety – General Information (CANADA)

  • Mileage traveled: 200 million km annually in Canada (107 million inter-city scheduled, and 88 million km charter/tour)
  • Buses are the safest vehicle on the road
  • Bus passenger fatalities account for less than 1% (0.3%) of all highway fatalities
  • Transport Canada has studied bus safety and reported:
    • “injury rates place buses among the safest modes of transport”
    • “buses provide passengers with remarkably safe travel compared with other road vehicles and other forms of transport”
    • “the data show that travel by bus is generally safe”
      (Source: Transport Canada Review of Bus Safety Issues, November 1998)
    • “Canada’s bus safety record is extremely good”
    • “Bus passengers are rarely killed or suffer major injury”
      (Source: Transport Canada Bus Safety Consultations Final Report, Feb. 2001 TP 13713 E)
  • Bus operators take a pro-active approach to ensuring the safety record of the industry is continually improved
  • The best carriers in the industry know that investing in safety pays
  • Bus operators are subject to a comprehensive set of Federal and Provincial regulations which set strict standards covering:
    • driver qualifications and medical condition
    • driver hours of work and electronic log books
    • daily (pre-trip) inspections
    • preventative maintenance programs and “in-service” vehicle fitness standards
    • periodic (government controlled) safety inspections
    • facility audits by government Carrier Safety Auditors
    • insurance