The Office of Transport Safety and Investigations (OTSI) has released its first ever report summarising bus incidents reported in a calendar year.
The Office said an increase in incidents and number of fatalities in 2019 prompted it to exam the data in more detail.
“The number of bus incidents was compared to data from 2014 onwards, and the various categories of incidents were examined,” OTSI said.
“There were 810 bus incidents reported to OTSI in 2019,” it said.
“This represented a 20 per cent increase from the previous year.”
OTSI said the number of bus journeys made by the travelling public had also increased over the past three years.
It said the highest category of bus incidents reported were collisions with other vehicles followed by slips, trips or falls inside a bus, then bus thermal incidents/fires.
“There were nine fatalities associated with bus transport in 2019,” the Office said.
“This was a significant increase from 2018 where there were four fatalities.”
OTSI said the report also included a summary of 10 selected bus incidents from 2019 which represented the most serious incidents and provided some detail about each occurrence.
The Office’s 24-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
