The operation of vehicles is prohibited if:

Explanation

If there is no first-aid kit on the bus.

A first-aid kit is mandatory equipment, and its absence on a bus prohibits operation of the vehicle. For a bus this requirement carries even more weight: in a vehicle with dozens of passengers, the likelihood of several people being injured at once is high, and the driver is the only person who can do anything in the first minutes.

The safety logic is the logic of time. In many incidents what takes the casualty's life is not the severity of the impact itself but uncontrolled bleeding in the interval between the collision and the arrival of the emergency services. Bandages, sterile gauze and a means of applying a tourniquet in that kit cover this interval. That is why the legislator placed its absence on a par with a serious technical defect rather than an administrative irregularity.

The question's trap is the "engine is difficult to start" option. This is a sign that servicing is needed — spark plugs, battery, fuel system — but it is not on the closed list of prohibiting defects. A rule that serves you throughout this chapter: faults that only reduce the vehicle's comfort or performance are not on the list, but anything relating to brakes, steering, vision, lighting and mandatory safety equipment is.

• A hard-starting engine is a sign that repair is needed but is not on the list of prohibiting defects; the option is attractive only because it looks like a "fault". • Since the first item does not count as an offence, the combined option is wrong too.

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