Joint Police RMS inspection

[Free Lance]

extracted from NSW Police Web site;-

Officers from the Joint Traffic Task Force today inspected a number of buses at depots in Artarmon and North Ryde, after a bus crashed into two houses in Sydney’s north-west on the weekend.
About 10am today (Thursday 21 September 2017), officers conducted a compliance audit of 31 buses belonging to the company and identified a number of defects.
During the inspections, 16 defect notices were issued for a variety of defects including brake and seatbelt issues, and ten drivers underwent random breath and drug tests, all of which were negative.
The operation came in response to a crash on Saturday (16 September 2017), when a bus travelling west on Epping Road, North Ryde, left the roadway and mounted the kerb, travelling through the front yard of one home before hitting another two homes.
The driver, a 61-year-old man, was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital where he underwent mandatory blood and urine tests. Investigations are continuing as officers await results from the mandatory tests.
Acting Assistant Commissioner David Driver of the state’s Traffic & Highway Patrol Command said Joint Traffic Task Force operations are run to ensure the safety of all road users.
"Given the important work that local buses perform every day of the week, it is imperative that they are safe and compliant.
"The Joint traffic Task Force will continue to respond to any major heavy vehicle crashes involving trucks, buses, and other large vehicles to ensure those fleets are being driven, serviced, and managed safely on our roads.
“Bus and heavy vehicle operators can expect us to come knocking at any time to ensure safety standards are being met,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Driver said.

[boronia]

From the HWP FB page:

At 10am on Thursday 21st September 2017, Police from the Joint Traffic Task Force together with the RMS entered two bus depot's in Artarmon and North Ryde following a crash where a bus was driven into two houses last Saturday. 31 buses were inspected with 16 buses defected for a variety of defects including frayed/non retracting passenger seat belts, loose seats, oil leaks, brakes, a cracked windscreen, smooth tyres and inoperable lights.

[Swift]

Are they going to inspect some government and private contract region depots too? I'm sure they would find some juicy stuff in those places as well.

[Fleet Lists]

They have already done at least one private contract operator as was reported on here some time ago.

[Swift]

There's a lot more depots to get into trouble than merely one!! It's about time they were made much more accountable than they have traditionally been.

[boronia]

Buses have to be RMS inspected every six months. It must be embarrassing if these hit squads start finding "defects" that weren't picked up at HVIS only a few days before.

[stajourneyman]

Things were 'so bad' that apparently the majority of the 'defects' were already rectified before the media hit team had even left the premises.

If the HWP/RMS want to be believable, just exclude the media, otherwise it's just another cynical media publicity exercise that this Govefnment is becoming too well known for.

Also, look for genuine defects, not just ensuring there is at least one defect on EVERY vehicle, so that they can say 'xx vehicles were defected today' ..... so as to maximise/exaggerate their impact.

Anyway, next election this current government has gotta be goners !!!