Report: German Tour Buses Need Safety Improvements

German tour bus operators, plagued by a wave of deadly accidents in recent months, got more bad news on Wednesday after the country’s leading automobile club issued a damning report about the industry. The ADAC conducted inspections of 35 different tour buses across the country and found only 10 buses to be "good" or "very good." Eight of the buses were found to be "inadequate" or "very inadequate." The remaining 17 failed to rise above the description of "sufficient." ADAC tested whether a bus’ driver was given adequate rest time, whether buses broke speed limits, whether safety information and emergency training were adequate and other criteria that could contribute to accidents. However, the International Federation of Bus Tour Operators accused the ADAC of relying on faulty test criteria and presenting a report that was "not representative of the industry as a whole." The organization noted that there were 100 million bus trips in the country last year. Out of those trips, a total of 66 Germans died in bus accidents in 2003.