Thursday, February 12, 2009
Where they wearing seat belts?
A coach carrying 29 Royal Marines bound for Afghanistan skidded off an icy road into a tree, leaving six injured - one seriously, the Ministry of Defence said today. The troops from 42 Commando in Plymouth were heading for RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire when the coach ploughed into a snow-filled ditch and hit the tree south east of Cheltenham. The marine who was driving, a 39-year-old man from Plymouth, is being treated at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital for serious injuries, believed to be head wounds, following the collision at 5.22am. He had to be cut free from the coach operated by Target Travel, which came off the road on the A40 at Puesdown.
Four of the men, aged between 20 and their mid-30s, were taken to Cheltenham General Hospital with what police described as "relatively minor" injuries. Those are concussion, cuts and bruises. A fifth man, aged 27, was also treated for minor injuries at the scene.
...So, where they wearing seat belts? Looking at the photograph of the crashed coach, a Plaxton Paragon, on television, I assume they were not wearing seat belts. Yes, it would be a nasty shock driving into a tree but looking at the damage there should not have been 6 people injured. When will passengers learn? It is not only the law to wear a seat belt in a coach but also common sense and best practice.
A coach carrying 29 Royal Marines bound for Afghanistan skidded off an icy road into a tree, leaving six injured - one seriously, the Ministry of Defence said today. The troops from 42 Commando in Plymouth were heading for RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire when the coach ploughed into a snow-filled ditch and hit the tree south east of Cheltenham. The marine who was driving, a 39-year-old man from Plymouth, is being treated at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital for serious injuries, believed to be head wounds, following the collision at 5.22am. He had to be cut free from the coach operated by Target Travel, which came off the road on the A40 at Puesdown.
Four of the men, aged between 20 and their mid-30s, were taken to Cheltenham General Hospital with what police described as "relatively minor" injuries. Those are concussion, cuts and bruises. A fifth man, aged 27, was also treated for minor injuries at the scene.
...So, where they wearing seat belts? Looking at the photograph of the crashed coach, a Plaxton Paragon, on television, I assume they were not wearing seat belts. Yes, it would be a nasty shock driving into a tree but looking at the damage there should not have been 6 people injured. When will passengers learn? It is not only the law to wear a seat belt in a coach but also common sense and best practice.
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