Bus driver fines down

The number of Transperth drivers who incurred traffic infringements on the job dropped sharply in 2015-16.

Offences were down 23.4 per cent in real terms at 331, compared with 432 in 2014-15.

This followed an 8.3 per cent drop the previous year, from 471 incidents in 2013-14.

The improvement is even better expressed as a factor of the distance covered by the Transperth bus fleet over the course of a year (service kilometres plus “dead” running) – a 25 per cent decline to 3.9 infringements per million kilometres, from 5.2 per million in 2014-15 (5.9 per million in 2013-14).

The latest number equates to the average motorist, who drives about 16,000km a year, getting a ticket once every 16 years.

In terms of trips undertaken, it is approximately one infringement in every 15,700 trips, compared with one in every 11,900 trips previously.

The great majority of the infringements were for exceeding the speed limit by no more than 9kmh.

PTA spokesman David Hynes said the results were promising. 

“As far as we are concerned, one speeding fine is one too many, but we are pleased to see that the incidence is trending downwards,” he said. 

“The infringements do not cost taxpayers anything – they are passed on to the bus contractors, and the fines and demerit points are incurred by the drivers concerned. 

“They may also be subject to their bus company’s internal disciplinary processes.”

The data can be found here.