On 27/3/08 10:38, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:34:45 +0000, Sacha wrote:


Don't they mean safely?

I can't second guess them, Martin. While I think a lot of this EU stuff is
irritatingly silly, I think some is an excuse to be sloppy or lazy, too. I
am NOT citing this as an example BTW. That said, I refuse to believe that
driving e.g. 60 miles is in any way dangerous for a bus driver operating
under sensible circumstances. I just wish we allowed for a degree of common
sense to be in operation, too!

It seems reasonable to limit the number of hours a driver can drive without a
break and for drivers to have 2 days rest a week like most of the rest of
the
population. Most coach disasters result from drivers driving excess hours. I
notice that long distance buses on UK motorways are often travelling over the
speed limit. I find it reasonable to fit a tachygraph to a public transport
bus.

But this is applying also to small, local services, most or many of which
won't ever see a motorway. If I can drive e.g. Two hours to Chepstow and
back again in one day, as I shall do tomorrow, I really do not believe a bus
driver is at risk any more than I am. Two days off is fine if both driver
and company agree to it but in this instance, we're not talking about long
distance lorry drivers hauling huge loads. We're talking about small local
buses whose passengers have to get on and off in rain, wind, sleet and snow,
lugging shopping, babies and pushchairs each time. It's on a par with taxing
*everyone* who owns a 4x4 without taking into account that there are two
tiers of ownership - country livers that need them and town dwellers that
don't. The requirements for a long-distance coach driver going from Holland
to Scotland cannot possibly be the same as a bus driver going from Exeter to
Truro which is 87 miles and takes about two hours!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'