Bus Safety

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:18): My question is again to the Minister for Transport. What safeguards are in place for passengers sitting in the disabled seat who experience a road accident when riding on the bus? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms BEDFORD: One of my constituents was on an O-Bahn bus when a road accident occurred near the East Terrace tunnel. My constituent was sitting on the disabled seat and, with no seatbelts or seat in front of him, was flung onto the floor of the bus injuring his neck and he had to get a lawyer to receive compensation. The main point is: what safety measures are in place for him?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:18): I thank the member again for the question. I don't have the technical detail behind that, but all vehicles have standards that they must adhere to. The public transport system would have those same standards and our public transport buses would adhere to those.

As far as the specifics of this specific case—and I do appreciate the member's point—I am happy to take that on notice. We do understand and we know that, through our road safety guidelines and the work that is done in that road safety section around our Think Road Safety campaigns, seatbelts are one of the five important things we must consider. Any fixturing or harnessing has rules and regulations around it, but, as far as those specific things, as far as Metro buses are concerned, I would again have no doubt that there would be a set of safety standards that would be adhered to. I have every confidence that would be the case, but I will get the detail back to the member.