Nasty Bus crash with lorry

The lorry driver hasn’t been arrested. That’s a pretty major statement.
Usually a lorry driver is instantly arrested in any incident where serious injury or loss of life occur, so there must be some pretty heafty evidence in his favour not to have been.

That truck company has full time dash cam recording, as I expect the bus does too.
Reports of other people in the area were patches of heavy fog interspersed with blinding sun.

Looks like a tragic accident that no one was to blame for.
 
Also the truck looked well out into his right turn and it looks like the bus hit the trailer, if the truck had just suddenly pulled out surely lorry cab would have extensive damage which makes me think the bus dvr was not paying full attention to. What was happening in front of him
 
In the mornings, this time of year the sun is almost straight down that road
 
frank said:
Also the truck looked well out into his right turn and it looks like the bus hit the trailer, if the truck had just suddenly pulled out surely lorry cab would have extensive damage which makes me think the bus dvr was not paying full attention to. What was happening in front of him
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well he might have been well out into his turn ,,,but if you cant get your trailer out the way in time you shouldn't pull out .
 
Not many local double deckers do 60 mph, usually limited to around 55mph. I reckon in the time it took for the unit and trailer to get as far as it did the bus driver should been able to stop in time or at least been braking to minimise the impact , the state of the front of the bus looks like he hit it without braking.
In my 30 years of bus driving before retiring I've never seen a crash as bad as that.
 
I’m not sure the bus even attempted to stop. No skid marks, no swerve.
Maybe the driver fell ill and this was shown on the interior cameras, hence the truck driver not being blamed.
 
maybe the truck driver was on the phone tucking in to a yorkie
 
If the bus had hit the middle to rear of the trailor, then I would have said the bus driver could have reacted, but it still doesn't explain why the lorry driver pulled out because a double decker bus is easy to see. The fact that the impact happened just to the rear of the cab tells me that the bus driver wouldn't have had much time to react.
 
I’ve heard that one of the passengers on the bus told police the driver was talking to an old man stood at the front of the bus for most of the journey.
The old man that died was reportedly very fond of standing at the front of the bus talking to the driver so say people who knew him..

Coincidence?

I love how everyone immediately blames the truck driver, even now after police haven’t arrested him for anything.
 
TCR4x4 said:
I’ve heard that one of the passengers on the bus told police the driver was talking to an old man stood at the front of the bus for most of the journey.
The old man that died was reportedly very fond of standing at the front of the bus talking to the driver so say people who knew him..

Coincidence?

I love how everyone immediately blames the truck driver, even now after police haven’t arrested him for anything.
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But even if the bus driver had his eyes shut, the lorry should not have pulled out! When I pull out of junctions I judge it on my ability to stay ahead of the vehicle and not rely on them to brake.
 
Obviously there’s lots of guessing going on here. But it does seem hard to see how the lorry driver isn’t at least partially to blame. His vehicle has joined the main road and not cleared the path of other vehicles. That’s a fundamental part of emerging from a junction surely.
 
Probably blame the bus driver as he died, pretty much what happened after the Moorgate tube disaster.

If you waited for the road to be totally clear both ways in London traffic you would still be sitting there next week.
Common practice to pull out half way then wait for the other lane to give way
Not saying that happened here, but if you saw a bus in the distance might reasonably expect it to slow down when it saw you pulling out (perhaps it did, who knows)
This was an express limited stop bus so daresay it wasn't pootling along, all conjecture anyway
 
tijuana taxi said:
Probably blame the bus driver as he died, pretty much what happened after the Moorgate tube disaster.

If you waited for the road to be totally clear both ways in London traffic you would still be sitting there next week.
Common practice to pull out half way then wait for the other lane to give way
Not saying that happened here, but if you saw a bus in the distance might reasonably expect it to slow down when it saw you pulling out (perhaps it did, who knows)
This was an express limited stop bus so daresay it wasn't pootling along, all conjecture anyway
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You may do that when the road is empty or a vehicle is way off in the distance, but that bus would have travelled a hell of a way if that was the case. You also shouldn't really block a lane of a fast A road. London traffic is one thing, but on a road where vehicles travel at 60 is dangerous
 
For all we know the truck may have pulled out when the road was clear and then broken down and got stuck there. I’ve been in that situation, was stuck across the road until someone came and pulled me backwards.

The bus shouldn’t have hit that hard regardless if the truck pulled out too late (which I don’t believe it did judging by its position in the road). No skid marks on the road, no deviation of course.. screams lack of attention to me, but sadly we will never truely know.
 
cambsno said:
You may do that when the road is empty or a vehicle is way off in the distance, but that bus would have travelled a hell of a way if that was the case.
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Maybe it did, all speculation, but you don't exactly nip out from a standing start in a 38 ton lorry either

You also shouldn't really block a lane of a fast A road. London traffic is one thing, but on a road where vehicles travel at 60 is dangerous
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Not suggesting you should or indeed would, but just stressing the point you can't always wait for it to be clear to the horizon so nobody has to apply the brakes.
 
A doubledecker bus weighs around 13 tons, and is around 12 metres long, the shortest combined (reaction/braking) braking distance from 50mph is around 60 metres.
I really do not think folks on here should suggest that the driver was talking to a passenger, unless of course they were there and witnessed it.
 
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andy700 said:
A doubledecker bus weighs around 13 tons, and is around 120 metres long, the shortest combined (reaction/braking) braking distance from 50mph is around 60 metres.
I really do not think folks on here should suggest that the driver was talking to a passenger, unless of course they were there and witnessed it.
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The suggestion came from someone who reportedly witnessed it.. what’s the difference.
 
No one here knows what happened as none of us are in the police force dealing with the investigation.
Humans naturally discuss subjects with thier opinions on what may or may not have happened. We always have and always will
Every time something major happens, the same thing occurs and there is always one who moans that we shouldn’t be discussing it.

It’s natural, live with it.
 
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