Reminder to wear a seatbelt on buses

Following the recent tragedy involving a bus full of passengers in the Hunter Valley, Transport for NSW (Transport) wants to remind bus operators and their passengers about their responsibilities in relation to seatbelts.

Clause 89 of the Passenger Transport (General) Regulation 2017 (NSW) states bus operators must take reasonable steps to ensure passengers are aware of the need to wear seatbelts when travelling on a bus, and by law, all passengers must use seat belts in any bus that is fitted with them.

Under the law, bus drivers are not accountable if passengers, including school students, fail to use the seatbelts provided Under no circumstances should a driver physically intervene when a student refuses to wear a seatbelt.

Wearing a seatbelt on the bus helps bus operators keep everyone safe by allowing them to pay attention to the road while driving, rather than focusing on what each of their passengers is doing.

Read more about bus safety on our website.

Driving a bus or coach in the snow?

Driving in the NSW snowfields can be dangerous, with poor visibility and slippery road surfaces. To prevent serious injuries and incidents in these challenging conditions, only specially trained drivers may carry passengers on bus or coach services in the NSW snowfields.

Any driver operating in the snow must have completed a Transport for NSW (Transport)approved Snow Driver Training course and must carry evidence that they have completed this training when transporting passengers into the Kosciuszko National Park from 1 June 2023 to 11 October 2023.

Transport is conducting regulatory assurance activities in the snowfield during 2023 and may enforce the snow driver training requirement. If drivers are found to be operating a public passenger service without having completed the required training, the driver’s authority and the operator’s accreditation may both be suspended.

For more information on Snow Driver Training, contact:

Sharing safety lessons

The Office of Transport Safety Investigations (OTSI) has issued two safety advisories to prevent bus rollaways and electrical circuitry issues

OTSI has issued the following Safety Advisory to help prevent bus rollaways:

Safety Advisory SA02/23 – Bus rollaways and incident data collection

Bus rollaways pose a significant risk of serious injury and death. Bus and coach operators need to fully understand the circumstances and likely cause/s of any rollaways that occur to ensure appropriate and timely safety actions are taken to prevent them

In addition to preventing bus rollaways, OTSI has also issued the following Safety Advisory to help protect electrical circuits on buses:

Safety Advisory SA01/23 - Protection of electrical circuits on buses

Operators/builders must ensure that fuses are matched correctly to the ampacity of the cables installed. The inclusion of cables with a lower ampacity than the fuse will significantly increase the risk of a fire in the event of a short circuit.

Updated 72 Hour Bus Incident Investigation Report Form

OTSI has updated the 72 Hour Bus Investigation Report Form to include the PEEPO investigative model and encourage operators to collect more and better incident data.

After a bus safety occurrence is reported to OTSI, an operator may be asked to: provide more details on the incident including copies of any technical or operational investigation reports which may have been conducted complete a 72 Hour Bus Incident Investigation Report form

OTSI uses this information to identify trends or safety factors across the sector, to inform any investigation decision it may make, and to work with individual operators or the regulator to identify lessons or improve safety specific to the incident The form was developed in consultation with Transport for NSW and BusNSW.

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Exemption for New Zealand heavy vehicle operators

From 1 August 2023, New Zealand heavy vehicle licence holders will need to obtain a NSW driver licence, if they have resided in NSW for three months or more

Over height vehicles

The NSW Government, together with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, launched an industrywide education and awareness campaign to ensure truck drivers and freight companies know and follow the road rules to avoid major incidents from over height trucks

The campaign videos remind truck drivers about online tools to help avoid over height truck incidents. These include:

Sydney Tunnel Height Clearance guide Higher Mass Limits and Restricted Access Vehicle maps

Watch the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator Launches Education Campaign.

Fresnel Lenses – a small device making a big difference

Heavy vehicle operators can now try a Fresnel lens for free to improve their vision while driving and help eradicate blind spots.

Fresnel lenses are made of a thin plastic and are attached to the passenger side windows of heavy vehicles to provide drivers with a wideangle view. This can allow the driver to notice other road users who may have otherwise been hidden in their blind spots.

This replaces the temporary measure to allow New Zealand heavy vehicle licence holders to use their licence in NSW for 12 months (or until the licence expires, if sooner) before being required to convert to an equivalent NSW heavy vehicle licence

The temporary measure was put in place by National Cabinet and the NSW Government to assist with driver shortages due to Covid. It will expire in NSW on 31 July and normal requirements will be back in place.

Transport for NSW trialled the effectiveness of the lenses in minimising passenger side blind spots on heavy vehicles, with most participants reporting that the device made driving safer.

A limited number of Fresnel lenses are currently available to NSW heavy vehicle operators to try for free To be eligible for a free lens operators must be based in NSW and the lenses are most suitable for heavy vehicles which are over 12 tonnes GVM and a 2015 model or older.

Order your Fresnel lens here

For more information on Fresnel lenses and to watch the video, please visit our website.