Safe Speed Forums

I am not normally "moved to tears" over things that happen in the news, nor am I particularly impressed with all the internet "Sympathy" twaddle that typically gets poured out when bad things happen (I agree with Boris over this one) But the news of this terrible coach crash has actually got to me!

The Aberfan disaster is one of my earliest really powerful memories. Even at the age of 6 I could appreciate the enormity of the catastrophie. This coach crash is like a mini Aberfan! It has ripped the heart out of this community! It will take generations to recover (even supposing it ever does)

Public transport generally has a very good safety record, but when it goes wrong it goes wrong badly. Not only can casualties be heavy, but even worse, almost by definition, the casualties are often linked, they all have something in common, the same town, the same company, whatever and as a consequence the wider effects are far more severe than (say) a similar number of casualties scattererd randomly over the whole county in individual transport accidents.

As I said, I normally regard such statements as being a bit cheesey, but this time My thoughts really are with them!

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

It is sad, but I tend towards immediately wanting to analyse the event and prior events. Perhaps that is a my failsafe way of dealing with trauma to look at how it can be solved, understood thoroughly and then learned from.
I do feel sorry for all the families and friends involved but I do find I do tend to distance myself from it.
I had to look up the Aberfan disaster .... very tragic.

Personally I have never liked travelling by coach if I can avoid it ... tend to go for plane or train if I can't drive for some reason ...

I would like to know a lot more about the accident if anyone finds out anything ...

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

I agree that this is a particularly tragic case.. and I am generally, famously heartless!

These coach incidents do seem to be an almost annual event, and often linked with the school ski trip season. I almost wonder if this is one area where driver aids & emergency mitigation systems might actually be more acceptable to the general public. (also conversely least likely due to expense & commercial considerations).

This is a very tragic and fortunately rare case.

It used to be said that it was better to die in an accident with a lot of others as these are investigated more thoroughly than a "one off" incident. I suppose it's even more true in the case of children as there appears to be a higher level of moral imperative to get to the bottom of things in these cases.

I've never understood the greater emphasis on child deaths anyway. The impact of the death of an adult who might be responsible for a family or a business is likely to have more far reaching effects.

(How's that for heartless.)

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

It might be rare - but it IS the second fatal accident involving a coach returning from a school ski trip in as many months - the previous one resulted in the death of a teacher from the UK.

That is the sort of unfortunate coincidence that can trigger a knee jerk reaction from some quarters, so it IS important that the causes are clearly identified, and only then, measures taken if required, or if they pose a huge risk.

From all reports, this bus simply veered off into a wall which formed part of the escape route from the tunnel for emergencies.

Two things spring to mind - the driver may well have been taken ill at the wheel - I have witnessed the aftermath of two such incidents - and believed them to be simply unavoidable, with no pre-existing conditions to raise concern, and the other is that the tunnel escape route could be redesigned to present less of an obstacle, in much the same way as bridge supports are on UK motorways.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

I have to say this shook me too. Can't begin to imagine how those directly affected must be feeling. It affected me considerably because my daughter only got back last week from a school coach trip to Belgium (the same daughter that narrowly escaped the Keswick bus crash a few years ago)!

I too, would like the investigation to be thorough and impartial, with the PRIMARY reason being to learn rather than to pin blame. From what I hear on the radio, falling asleep is unlikely, as the driver had only been driving for less than half an hour. I was irked that reporter after reporter only seemed to be concerned with reporting that it hadn't been speeding - as if that was the only thing that mattered! I sometimes wonder whether "black box"-style recorders (like planes but a lot simpler / cheaper) should be installed in PSVs.

Anyway, futile to speculate further at this stage, but I do feel very sad about it. I know what you mean Dusty.