[plug] all your XXX belong to us (was: valentine)

[Bernd Felsche]

On Mon, Feb 16, 2004 at 08:57:39AM +0800, James Devenish wrote:
> In message <20040216002341.GA18004 at pinion.innovative.iinet.net.au>
> on Mon, Feb 16, 2004 at 08:23:41AM +0800, Bernd Felsche wrote:
> > You're actually more likely to be killed or injured when using
> > public transport for a journey.

> Whereabouts can we find out about Perth's metropolitan transport
> safety statistics, with details of public transport casualties?

Not Perth figures. Statistics of passenger km or journeys aren't
maintained (or at least not published) in Australia, as far as I can
tell.

> How does public transport compare with bicycle safety and walking?

Parents won't let their children walk to school, so it must be
unsafe! :-)

There's not just the mode of transport itself that carries the
risk, but also the environmen to which travellers are exposed. If
you get mugged at a train station, then that's directly related to
public transport, but not the mode of transport.

Trains are probably the _safest_ mode of transport; or they can be
if proper safe working is followed; if there's no safe-working, you
get disasters such as Waerfall in NSW... Getting to and from the
train is another matter altogether.

> What about school buses? I would be surprised to hear that train
> casualties were a higher proportion of train users than cars
> casualties (including pedestrians) were of car users (excluding
> people who were hit by trains -- though I would be interested to
> hear if any of those people were regular commuters). 
> I can't recall anyone drowning on the metro ferry. There are
> certainly bus accidents and injuries -- I wonder how many of those
> were determined to have been caursed by car drivers?

Maybe the buses were travelling at excessive speed when carrying
unrestrained and standing pax... such vehicles in Germany are
limited to 80kmh and more often than not restricted to speed zones
of 70kmh or less anyway. It's also worth noting that many Transperth
buses *die* on the side of the freeway because they were never
intended for extended runs at 100kmh.

Many bus incidents are caused by pedestrians and cyclists. Not all;
but certainly a fair portion.

-- 
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