Venice bus crash

[glazbagun]

Seeing this now on twitter. Bus has gone through the rails of what looks like a high overpass & landed upside down. BBC reporting 20 dead.

Are bus accidents more common than I thought, or is this like the air crash effect where the news just gets more sensitive to them?

[untakenname]

Used the park and ride last year and got the bus into Venice, the driving standards of the so called professional driver was eye opening to say the least.

Wonder if this will be a wake up call like the Croydon tram crash?

[Ian Geary]

untakenname said:

Used the park and ride last year and got the bus into Venice, the driving standards of the so called professional driver was eye opening to say the least.

Wonder if this will be a wake up call like the Croydon tram crash?

Slightly unfortunate choice of words there, given the "accident" was caused by the driver's micro sleep. I'm not sure the tram operators have really addressed it, other than accepting a fine from the HSE.

I've not been to Italy for ages, but driving standards were shocking, though everyone seemed to just expect it and deal with it (this was Rome)

The recent Wirral coach crash only had one fatality luckily, but had it been an elevated section of m-way, it could easily have been higher.

So I think this is just a case of awful luck / wrong place / wrong time.

[MitchT]

Ian Geary said:

I've not been to Italy for ages, but driving standards were shocking...

I recall a journey from Naples airport to Sorrento on a coach. The view out of the window was like watching the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix, but consisting entirely of small Fiats and scooters. I was glad to be on a coach though the cliff top stretches of road along the way were quite unnerving.

[XCP]

MitchT said:

Ian Geary said:

I've not been to Italy for ages, but driving standards were shocking...

I recall a journey from Naples airport to Sorrento on a coach. The view out of the window was like watching the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix, but consisting entirely of small Fiats and scooters. I was glad to be on a coach though the cliff top stretches of road along the way were quite unnerving.

Bus trips around the Amalfi coast are quite an experience!

[croyde]

Coaches here in the UK appear to be the fastest things on the motorway these days and I'm surprised that there aren't loads of accidents but then I guess they are not navigating the tiny mountain roads that are common in parts of Europe, Middle East, Asia etc.

Throw that in with the more devil may care attitude of the driving......

[Derek Smith]

XCP said:

MitchT said:

Ian Geary said:

I've not been to Italy for ages, but driving standards were shocking...

I recall a journey from Naples airport to Sorrento on a coach. The view out of the window was like watching the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix, but consisting entirely of small Fiats and scooters. I was glad to be on a coach though the cliff top stretches of road along the way were quite unnerving.

Bus trips around the Amalfi coast are quite an experience!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jao-22bVKSs

On the way from Amalfie to Naples - the video shows the return - the driver drove into a mountain, smashing a side window. The woman sitting there was inconsolable. The driver drove off after a cursory look at the damage.

The return drive was a lot less eventful, but the thought there would be few survivors if this driver messed it up was a bit sobering. The worst were the car drivers; taking risks that often blocked the road. Lots of shoulder shrugging.

It was an experience. My wife wasn't too pleased, but I would not have missed it.

We took the boat from Maiori to Amalfie regularly. At least they had lifejackets.

[Eric Mc]

I've done the Amalfi drive by coach a number of times. It's great but I kept thinking of the final scene in "The Italian Job" (original version, of course).

[andy43]

Just seen this on the news. Electric/methane hybrid bus, 30 metre drop, caught fire on impact.
Passengers will have had no chance

[Eric Mc]

The reports I heard said that it was a methane powered bus.

[andy43]

Eric Mc said:

The reports I heard said that it was a methane powered bus.

I’ve edited my post above - I heard electric only, just googled..

bbc said:

The vehicle is thought to have been a hybrid, powered by electric batteries and methane gas. Italian reports suggest the gas tank exploded on impact and fire brigade commander Mauro Longo told Il Gazzettino website that the batteries caught fire and made the task of clearing the bus a complex operation.

Horrific. I wonder if regulations concerning gas tanks and batteries etc will be changed after this.

[pquinn]

andy43 said:

Horrific. I wonder if regulations concerning gas tanks and batteries etc will be changed after this.

Not sure dropping the thing on its roof from 100ft up is something that'd ever become part of the regs.

It was a pretty extreme crash regardless of the nature of the bit that caught fire afterwards. There'd have likely been diesel everywhere if it'd been powered by that instead.

[Pan Pan Pan]

pquinn said:

andy43 said:

Horrific. I wonder if regulations concerning gas tanks and batteries etc will be changed after this.

Not sure dropping the thing on its roof from 100ft up is something that'd ever become part of the regs.

It was a pretty extreme crash regardless of the nature of the bit that caught fire afterwards. There'd have likely been diesel everywhere if it'd been powered by that instead.

Reports at the scene stated the bus fell just over 10 metres, other reports stated it fell almost 50 feet. There are no confirmed statements regarding the actual distance the bus fell, but it was nowhere near 100 feet.

[skwdenyer]

pquinn said:

andy43 said:

Horrific. I wonder if regulations concerning gas tanks and batteries etc will be changed after this.

Not sure dropping the thing on its roof from 100ft up is something that'd ever become part of the regs.

It was a pretty extreme crash regardless of the nature of the bit that caught fire afterwards. There'd have likely been diesel everywhere if it'd been powered by that instead.

If the tank can’t survive 50 feet, how would it survive a big crash? Assuming no air resistance and a drop of that height, the bus was travelling no more than 40mph on impact.