Motor coach safety enforcement actions produce results

Ensuring the safety of our nation’s highways is a top priority for the Department of Transportation.  Whether driving their cars or riding in motor coaches, America’s travelers deserve to be safe.

That’s why the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and its state and local law enforcement partners recently conducted nine days of surprise motor coach safety inspections across the nation.

And I'm pleased to report that enforcement action resulted in 2,782 inspections and the removal of 289 unsafe buses or drivers from our roadways.  Inspectors issued out-of-service citations to 156 drivers and 262 vehicles.  In addition to vehicle inspections, FMCSA and state safety investigators initiated full safety compliance reviews on 95 commercial bus companies.

But this safety strikeforce was just part of FMCSA’s ongoing efforts to strengthen passenger carrier safety nationwide. 

For example, the number of roadside safety inspections of motor coaches has doubled from 12,991 in 2005 to 25,703 in 2010.  And the number of carrier reviews than doubled from 457 in 2005 to 1,042 in 2010.

FMCSA's Passenger Carrier Safety website

We know that these inspections and reviews are saving lives--passenger fatalities have decreased from 57 in 2004 to 46 in 2009, a 19 percent reduction.  And that's with more than 750 million passengers traveling by motor coach every year.

But we can do better.  Working side-by-side with our state and local law enforcement partners, DOT wants to ensure that every passenger bus company and every driver operates as safely as possible.  And we will continue to use every resource at our disposal to shut down passenger bus companies and drivers who put passengers in harm’s way.

If you’re considering passenger bus transportation, please review the company’s safety records at http://www.ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/Passenger/home.asp.

And if you suspect an unsafe commercial driver or carrier while you’re traveling, always call 911 first.  Then, you can also report an unsafe driver or carrier at: http://nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov.

Comments

[Carey]

Thanks for this article and these service. Mostly people travel by buses every year. Any time any problem can create on highways so I think they need these services to avoid most accident.