By Dave Millhouser

"The job pays $10 an hour IF you show me you can run the bulldozer well enough," said the foreman.

The bulldozer operator fired up the beast and set out down the dirt road.

The dozer churned ahead, its blade flailing up and down, chopping the surface into a washboard.

When he got to the end, the driver yelled back: "Thats what you get for $10 an hour. Good operators get $25, and THIS is what they can do."

He turned the machine around, lowered the blade and returned, leaving in his wake a surface so smooth it might as well have been paved.

One illusion our society cherishes is that no cost is too high when it comes to safety. Like the dozer driver pointed out, quality in anything costs.

We would eliminate highway deaths by enforcing a 10 mph speed limit. Air travel could be completely safe but airliners would seat 20 people and be the size of 747s.

This is "reductio ad absurdum" (and you thought I didnt know Latin), taking an idea to its logical, but absurd, conclusion. Now were in a similar spot as the bulldozer operator. We need to draw a line and where we draw it is in large part determined by economics.

How much safety can we afford? Technology and training have come a long way, and coaches are safer than theyve ever been. Brakes, suspension, steering, tires and structure all are far superior to what we saw just 30 years ago. There are systems on the horizon (and on some current coaches) that will reduce or eliminate all sorts of bad things.

So, whats the problem?

The perception that we must spend whatever it takes to be 100 percent safe creates all sorts of dichotomies.

For years, European operators have had access to a variety of safety technology that American suppliers were reluctant to offer. The fear was that a system failure would result in a lawsuit in the litigious U.S. On the other hand, by not installing this technology they werent providing the safest vehicle possible, leaving them open to, you guessed it, a lawsuit.

If safety was governments ONLY concern, theyd eliminate those dangerous toll booths. (Dont hold your breath.)

On the rare occasion when a coach accident results in a fatality, almost always the death occurs when the individual is thrown out the window. Seatbelts help, but shrink those windows to 1940s dimensions and you eliminate the problem. (Good luck getting anyone to ride such a coach.)

Anne Ferro, President Obamas nominee to be administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, testifying at her confirmation hearing last month, was refreshingly frank. She acknowledged that safety is clearly related to economics, pointing out that it is difficult to improve safety in an industry "where segments of it have such low barriers to entry that competition for business is sometimes characterized as a race to the bottom."

In other words, too many unqualified and hand-to-mouth operators lower industry standards and compete on price alone. Until the public is willing to pay what a coach trip is worth, safety will invariably suffer.

As usual, I have more questions than answers, but wanted to offer a couple of thoughts stolen from friends.

Safety is good business. Training drivers, buying and operating safety systems, and careful maintenance can save you on both insurance and public relations (accidents are not good advertising).

Sell safety. If youve spent money on stability control or event monitors, point it out to your customers. Many of you are parlaying recent purchases of seatbelt-equipped coaches into a marketing advantage. Dont stop there. Dont be shy about touting investment in your passengers safety. All buses are safe, but yours are a bit closer to perfect.

Dont fight reasonable regulations coming down the pike. All the good guys are going to have to pay the price to comply and it may drive off some of the bad guys. If we support the reasonable rules, we have a better chance of being heard when something silly is proposed. Talk to your congressman and regulators.

Get your prices up (easy for me to say). Help your customers understand that their paying a bit more allows you to do a better job for them. Modern equipment is expensive and safe(r).

Many of you push safety on your websites. Good idea.

This isnt an easy topic because no one (particularly defense attorneys) wants to hear that economics forces us to draw a line on how much we can invest in safety.

Our job is to move the line in the right direction just as far as we can afford, and help the public understand the concept. Id sure like to hear some good ideas on how we can sell this -- because we need to.

DeNial is NOT a river in Egypt, and pretending that safety doesnt come at a price is silly.

Dave Millhouser is a bus industry marketing consultant and freelance writer. Contact him at: dave_millhouser@hotmail.com.