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Comments on: No sympathy http://sbbs.johnband.org/2004/12/no-sympathy/ As fair-minded and non-partisan as Torquemada. Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:16:20 +0000 hourly 1 By: Michael http://sbbs.johnband.org/2004/12/no-sympathy/#comment-1664 Wed, 08 Dec 2004 02:30:00 +0000 http://sbbs.johnband.org/?p=648#comment-1664 It’s also supported by statistics – the Hatfield train crash in 2000, which led to a general speed reduction that lasted for months and forced people back onto the road, directly led to a sharp rise in road-related deaths over the same period.

In any case, what would compulsory seatbelts achieve, aside from everything you mention and a significant fare increase both to pay for them and to compensate for the reduced capacity? And has any other country adopted these measures?

I’ve commuted by train for four or five days a week, almost without exception, since 1978 – and since 2001 this includes a daily return trip from the South Coast to London. There has not been one single moment across what must be a minimum of tens of thousands of journeys where I’ve felt genuinely unsafe (*). This is not, to put it mildly, true of road-based journeys – which is why it’s right that seatbelts are compulsory there but not on trains.

(*) at least not through whatever the train was doing: passengers are, of course, a different matter!

]]> By: Eric http://sbbs.johnband.org/2004/12/no-sympathy/#comment-1659 Tue, 07 Dec 2004 16:57:00 +0000 http://sbbs.johnband.org/?p=648#comment-1659 Slightly harsh way of putting it, but your logic is sound.

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