Prepare now for stricter industry oversight

摘要

Two stories overshadowed all others in the bus industry in 2011: the implementation and realization of the new Safety Measurement System (SMS) and the resulting consequences and attention a string of unusually severe motorcoach crashes generated. While there are probably some operators who do not care much for the new SMS, the consensus from a safety viewpoint is this system does what it was intended to do: identify carriers that have issues managing regulatory requirements. How the system interprets certain violations and ranks operators are still contentious areas, but as a whole the new system provides much more information about carriers and their management than the Safestat system it replaced. More information for both regulators and consumers is a good thing.