Chinese buses hit the bricks, and vice versa
| July 27, 2009 | 2:01 PM
More journal entries from John Moore »
This sounds off the wall — and, come to think of it, it just might be.
A Chinese bus company has started putting bricks on its vehicles. Not for unruly passengers, but for smashing out the windows if people need to escape in an emergency.
Considering the size of the bricks, this could be more than just a token attempt at public safety. They are stored under the driver’s seat and at the back of the bus — painted orange, with red Chinese characters symbolizing “for emergency use” on both sides, so they will be easy to spot.
Given the economy, it isn’t too hard to see how the Harbin Public Transport Company got on this route.
Normally, the preferred tool for smashing windows in an escape is a safety hammer, but those are expensive and people tend to steal them. So the company is giving the bricks a trial run in the city of Harbin, China, to see how they stack up. It plans to install them on 700 of its buses if it can cement public support for the idea.
Sounds fair.
Read more at ananova.com.
brick, buses, china, emergency, escape, hammer, passengers
