According to the BBC, the breathalyser style device operates to disable the vehicle if the driver is over the limit and the company’s Birmingham control room is then alerted.
The system was put in to place following a National Express employee being found guilty of driving dangerously and with excess alcohol in 2008, after his coach crashed and overturned on the M1.
The system has been trialled over a two year period and will now be fitted to 500 of the company’s vehicles.
The device, known as the “Alcolock”, was invented in Sweden and is already compulsory on all public service vehicles in France.
The alcohol limit on National Express coaches is already lower than the national drink drive limit.
The company’s operations director Alex Perry said, “We had a very thorough investigation, we learned some lessons from it, it’s a system we can roll out across the fleet and it would prevent such accidents in the future.”
The pleasing thing about this move is that it shows National Express has genuinely taken the time to consider the safety of its passengers and their welfare in general following an accident. There is no legal requirement for them to have put such a system in place and it is a financial outlay that will not bring them any financial reward but they have done it anyway because it will increase the safety of their passengers. Let’s hope it sets a precedent which other companies in the UK choose to follow.
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