A Hypothetical Scenario

A Hypothetical Scenario - from the "Australia Medical Association Queensland News" - September 2000:-

“It’s 3.30pm on Friday. It’s the last day of the school term and a bus packed with 103 school children (40 standing in the aisles) is making it’s way along the Warrego Highway, travelling at 100 kilometres an hour. The kids are happy to finally be on holidays and the bus driver is looking forward to two weeks of “kid-free” bus travel.

A loaded semi-trailer is approaching at the same speed in the other direction. It blows a tyre and for an instant the driver loses control. The bus driver is quick to react, but the inertia of the vehicle sends it ploughing into the semi that has now crossed onto the wrong side of the road. The head-on collision forces the bus and semi to roll down an embankment. Two cars following the bus couldn’t stop – they too collided with the semi.

Luckily, the above scenario is only hypothetical, but it could become a reality any day, anywhere in this State.

Five-year-old Thomas was too small to hold onto the hand poles running along the ceiling of the bus - no seats were available when he stepped onto the bus. As a result he was standing with nothing to hold onto at the time of the accident. Thomas was thrown around the bus as it rolled, smashing his head into other children. He died after falling from the ceiling of the bus, his stomach landing with full force onto the metal bar across the seat, ripping his stomach open and eventually bleeding to death.

Sixteen-year-old Fiona became a missile, slamming into other children, snapping her neck when she made impact with the windscreen.

Seven year old Tess; was thrown over her seat, breaking her neck when she collided with the back of another seat.

Twelve-year-old Adam was impaled in the back by a sharp piece of metal ripped open from the roof of the bus and bled to death.

Eight year old Amy was decapitated - she was caught halfway out the window as the bus rolled over.

Six-year-old Frank suffered severe brain damage as a result of another child’s forceful impact. Frank also suffered the loss of his right arm during the rollover, his arm was protruding through the broken glass of the window.

Six children were smashed to bits; the seats they were sitting in were ripped from the floor, sending them crashing into other children and seats.

The bus driver died on impact with the semi - the bus driver is usually the first to die.

Could they be your children; grandchildren; your neighbor’s children? Perhaps your nieces or nephews; maybe your children’s best friends? Are you a bus driver? Perhaps someone close to you is?" (BACK)

Kim Limburg & Kim Bax, ordinary Queensland mums - and runners up in the Australian Plaintiff Lawyers "National Civil Justice Awards - 2001" for their advocacy of school bus safety

3rd March 2004 - a scathing quote from Kim Bax, mum & schoolbus seatbelt campaigner, about Mr. Beattie's funding priorities:-

"Paying out for football stadiums before seatbelting kids is like my hubby blowing the family budget on a bells and whistles home-entertainment centre, before fixing the brakes on the family car. Fortunately, my hubby - unlike Mr. Beattie - puts safety before toys." (BACK)

The National Highway Transport Safety Authority, "Sudden Impact" (USA) - 1992

The first collision is known as the car’s collision, which causes the car to buckle and bend as it hits something and comes to an abrupt stop. Tis occurs in approximately one-tenth of a second. The crushing of the front end absorbs some of the force of the crash and cushions the rest of the car. As a result, the passenger compartment comes to a more gradual stop than the front of the car.

The second collision is known as the human collision, which occurs as the car’s occupants hit some part of the vehicle. At the moment of impact, unbelted occupants are still traveling at the vehicles original speed. Just after the vehicle comes to a complete stop, these unbelted occupants will slam into the steering wheel, the windshield, or some other part of the vehicle interior. This is the human collision.

Even after the occupant’s body comes to a complete stop, the internal organs are still moving forward. Suddenly, these organs hit other organs or the skeletal system. This third collision is the internal collision and often causes serious or fatal injuries

“During a crash, properly fastened seat belts distribute the forces of rapid deceleration over larger and stronger parts of the person’s body, such as the chest, hips and shoulders. The safety belt stretches slightly to slow your body down and to increase it’s stopping distance.”

The difference between the belted person’s stopping distance and the unbelted person’s stopping distance is significant. It’s often the difference between life and death.” (BACK)

"The Jimboomba Times" (Queensland) - Excerpts from school bus accident report, March 2001

“At 3.30pm last Thursday,…(March 4, 2001)…..buses carrying more than 80 Beaudesert High students collided.”

“Six students were injured, seriously enough to be taken by ambulance to Beaudesert Hospital”

Of the children hospitalized, “17 year old Kylie Hurley remained in the Beaudesert Hospital with lack of feeling in her legs plus back and neck pain”

“Grade 12 student, Erin Smith received a collapsed lung in the accident.” (BACK)

Trip ends in death as road collapse sends bus plunging into ravine - Victoria, Australia - 2000 (Click HERE to access a key quote within this article quickly)

On the edge ... rescue workers perched beside the collapsed verge used ladders and ropes to reach the coach. Photo: Ken Irwin

A 14-year-old boy died and a 12-year-old girl was in a critical condition in hospital yesterday after a bus carrying 50 people crashed when a mountain road collapsed beneath it.

Police said the bus carrying adults and children from a Melbourne Eritrean community group slid down an embankment in south-east Victoria.

The 12-year-old girl, who was airlifted to the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, with chest and leg injuries, underwent surgery last night. Her life was not in danger, authorities said.

Another 12 people, five of them children, were taken to Warragul Hospital. Nine were treated at the hospital and eight were later released.

Police said the driver of the bus remained in hospital being treated for shock and injuries.

The bus had been hired by Melbourne's Eritrean Islamic Society to take students to a church camp. It was one of two travelling together.

Police said the bus was travelling on the unsealed Allambee Reserve Road, near Allambee, 100 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, at about 12.30pm.

Sergeant Jeff Smith, of the Victoria Police Accident Investigation Unit, said it appeared the bus had pulled over to allow a car to pass.

The road had apparently given way and the bus had rolled about 25 metres down an embankment.

The dead boy was trapped beneath the bus. His body was removed during the afternoon.

"The bus was a modern one and had been fitted with seatbelts," Sergeant Smith said.

"Maybe the way it was built and maybe the low speed of the accident has saved countless lives."

State Emergency Service units from the area joined police and fire officers at the scene, using a rope ladder to help passengers up the hill.

Witnesses said some students were trapped in the bus for up to 30 minutes before they were lifted to safety.

SES duty officer Mr Graham Perkins said rescue workers had difficulty identifying the injured as students and adults wandered around the scene in a state of shock.

Locals said it was the second time in three months a vehicle had gone over the edge on that stretch of road.

Three months ago a car carrying five adults had slid over the embankment not far from yesterday's accident, they said.

A man in his early twenties was killed in a three-car crash in northern NSW, bringing the State's toll to 24.

A man and woman were flown by helicopter to Lismore Base Hospital with head and facial injuries as a result of the crash on the Pacific Highway, 20 kilometres south of Woodburn.

In Tasmania, a teenage girl died four hours after being hit by a car in Burnie, in the State's first recorded road death of the holiday.

In addition to the 24 NSW road deaths, Queensland had seven, Victoria four, South Australia and Western Australia three each.

Tasmania and the ACT have had one each, and the Northern Territory has reported no road deaths since the holiday period began just after midnight on December 22. (BACK)

“The high back Superior 26 in. seatback allowed the head of the 13-year-old to contact the top edge of his backrest during the rear-end collision. High back seats (28 in. or more) greatly contribute to the compartmentalization of passengers thereby reducing the chances of injuries sustained by passengers being hurled against one another, regardless of their size. Seats having strong well-padded armrests provide important lateral constraint.”

“The greatest single contribution to school bus passenger collision safety is the high strength, high back safety seat. Next in importance is the use of a three-point belt, a lap belt or other form of effective restraint.”

“More importantly, the forces are directed by the three-point restraint system to strong parts of the passenger's body in a generally no injury-producing manner, as contrasted with head and chest injuries commonly sustained for unrestrained passengers on direct impact with the structures around them.”

“These experiments have shown that, depending upon the nature and extent of passenger collision protection, school bus occupants may be killed or sustain no injury even though subjected to identical collision conditions."

“The practice of transporting bus passengers standing in the aisle is dangerous and should not be permitted, especially for school bus passengers. Individuals standing in the aisle are far more likely to be injured than passengers who are seated, regardless of the lack of quality of the seats. During a collision passengers standing are thrown about the bus passenger compartment striking and injuring other individuals who may be adequately restrained. The exposure for the standee relative to the head-on and rear-end collision is, understandably, severe, owing to no structure immediately in his path to retard his body being hurled down the aisle to strike the front or rear of the bus forcibly, and often head first. It was found that conditions are or may be as serious for the side impact owing to the abruptness with which the standee is thrown against other passengers and the side of the bus, or, in the instance of the individual standing near the front of the bus, thrown against the opening and ejected head first. The standee's chances of injury during a collision greatly exceed those of seated passengers, even when safety seats are not included in the bus. Standees thrown to the front of the bus may block the exit with injured and unconscious bodies greatly increasing the evacuation time for those able to move.” (BACK)

Australian Plaintiff Lawyers Association (APLA) - horrific description of what happens in a coach crash, by Rob Davis, Solicitor

“In 1989 the writer represented the bus company involved in the Tamborine Bus Crash in which 11 people were killed and over 30 were seriously injured. The one glaring lesson to emerge from that fatal accident was that buses are not designed to be reasonably crashworthy. If a normal sedan had been involved in either the Tamborine or Gateway incidents there is every reason to believe the occupants would have survived with relatively minor injuries. The massive toll of death and injury that occurs in almost any bus ‘roll-over’ is caused by two main factors. First is the fact buses are not designed to withstand realistic roll-overs. Second is the absence of seat belts. During roll-over bus cabins distort, windows pop, and occupants may protrude through open window spaces, resulting in decapitation injuries as the vehicle rolls. Others are beaten to death from colliding with internal structures, such as seats, floors, and other passengers.” (BACK)

Kempsey & Grafton coach crash horror (1989), 52 dead - the Coroners damning verdict

“It is notorious that when the impact occurred, all persons and seats in each bus were hurled forward to the front. The seat anchorages gave way completely under the considerable forces applied. It is common ground that research must be done and improvements made in an attempt to keep the seats in place when a collision occurs, and also to keep in place so far as possible the occupants of those seats”

“It is obvious from the literature that surveys on this and other subjects have been made and rejected. It is regrettably true that it often takes a major catastrophe to precipitate Government and Government authorities into action. Matters of cost and inconvenience often have been allowed to take precedence over matters of personal safety. Promising suggestions are deflected for investigation elsewhere and largely forgotten.” (BACK)

This picture was taken by local parents. The doors of this bus were just about to close, and the bus was just about to depart. There's no prizes for guessing what would happen to the these little kids in an accident. There is no copyright on this picture - and there are several more like it. If any sections of the media wish to use it (and others in the same series), they are more than welcome. Please email your request HERE

National Highway Transportation Safety Board (USA) - Bus Crash Testing, Computer Simulations

Click on this picture. It's a link to more images in this series - and the associated information (opens in a new window).

Some horrifying admissions from a 1994 "Australian Federal Office of Road Safety" report into many serious Australian coach accidents (these admissions were broadcast by Channel 9’s “Brisbane Extra,” 2001 – stamped over graphic archive footage of the crashes):-

Damning extract from the Queensland Parliamentary records, 1st August 2001 - involving Kev Lingard (Nat - Beaudesert), and Paul Lucas (ALP - Lytton, now Qld. Transport Minister):-

Hon. K. R. LINGARD (Beaudesert‹NPA) (5.43 p.m.):
. . . . . . . . . . . I am concerned about what happened at estimates in relation to school buses. The continual fob of the ALP government pre-election and at present shows that we have to have a major tragedy on a school bus before something is going to be done about seat belts or the problem of students standing on school buses. There is no doubt that, if the government limits the number of students standing on buses or if it says that seat belts must be introduced into school buses, it will cost the government money. However, the government does not worry about telling private bus companies that they must have seat belts and it does not worry about telling car manufacturers that they must have seat belts, because that does not cost the government money; that is something which must be implemented by the private sector. So we continue to see the ALP government fobbing about the problem of school buses.
This is not just something that was raised in the Beaudesert electorate by a group called the Bus Action Committee; this has been around for a while. I note that the member for Fitzroy is in the chamber. He was involved in an altercation about exactly the same thing. But still we see the ALP government not doing anything. I see in estimates that Mr Bredhauer said in answer to a question from the shadow Minister for Transport‹
No. The commitment that we made prior to the last election was to establish the task force and then to work on its recommendations.
The ALP government could find itself in the extremely embarrassing situation very soon in which there is a major accident and all of these statements made by the Minister for Transport are going to come back to haunt him. There has been continuing concern, firstly, about the number of students standing on school buses that are travelling in areas which have speed limits of 100 kilometres per hour. This was a real issue before the last election, especially in the area of Beaudesert where we had some very aggressive lobbyists. One lady who comes to mind has now written to me. She states:-
So far, I've been banned from speaking to the entire Queensland Transport Department via a voicemail message left by Steve Bredhauer, because, as he said in the voicemail message‹he took exception to a radio interview I did on 4BC. Questions I put directly to Peter Beattie about the basis of that ban remain unanswered to this day. My application to join the Labor Party has been rejected‹and despite asking the question 'why?' repeatedly ... not one single, solitary coherent reason has ever been given to me.
Mr Lucas interjected.
Mr LINGARD: No, she has not applied to come into ours. Then the other day this lady and another lady who stood at the last election were not even allowed to hear the bringing down of the interim task force report. They were held outside by two security people. They were not allowed to even go to the bringing down of the task force report. They are not allowed into the ALP, and that is okay. But now they are not allowed to talk to the Transport Department. Of course, Steve Bredhauer said that it was not on until I produced in this parliament a copy of that particular document.
What did we see before the last election? We saw a whole lot of interim measures to try to fob off this issue of school buses. We saw the minister say that students can now stand on buses not for 20 kilometres but for 18 kilometres. He limited the distances that a bus can travel with children standing. What else did we see before the last election? We saw that he said that buses can no longer travel at 100 kilometres per hour. They can travel at 80 kilometres per hour, but they can still travel in areas with speed limits of 100 kilometres per hour. That is an absolutely ridiculous situation.
Then before the last election we saw a continual fob about the limitations of certain areas. We in the opposition have always said that surely the minister can extend the policy of limiting students standing on buses that travel in dangerous areas. Mount Tamborine and areas around Atherton would be typical examples. Surely he could limit students standing on buses that travel on roads that have other traffic travelling at 100 kilometres per hour, but nothing has been done except in the area of Beaudesert where the Bus Action Committee was working.
Time expired. (BACK)

The damning lead editorial of the Queensland "Sunday Mail" 27^th May 2001 - "BUS AUDIT FIRST STOP":-

"Common sense proposals from the Australian Plaintiff Lawyers Association are modest and affordable first steps to improve school bus safety in Queensland. The group has recommended an audit of every bus and route, including an examination of the condition of each vehicle, the condition of the road on which it travels, and the number of children carried. The association’s submission to the School Transport Safety Task Force also recommends that standing in the aisles of buses be eliminated within three years, that hard objects be padded and dangerous stops relocated. Most importantly, the lawyers also want all new and replacement buses which carry school children to have seat belts. It is a second-best solution to the single biggest worry for passengers and parents but one that at least might overcome ongoing Government parsimony. Transport Minister Steve Bredhauer has put the cost of fitting seat belts at $500 million over 10 years; the Opposition says it can be done for $22.5 million. Such a disparity in costings is barely credible, but crying poor is hollow from a Government that can find $250 million to redevelop Lang Park. It is a grotesque distortion of priorities while our children are denied the protection that is compulsory for most road users.” (BACK)

A damning "Letter to the Editor" from Kim Bax (mum), about the Jimboomba (Qld.) School Bus Crash - March 2001 (her hubby is in the Woodhill Rural Fire Brigade, and was called out to the scene of the accident):-

"It was a quiet day. Hubby and I both had a day off work. He was playing with his computer, I was in the bedroom putting laundry away. Suddenly there’s a huge panic. He comes flying into the bedroom, scrabbling to get fully dressed. Words spill out, disjointed – “a school bus crash” “two buses in collision” “sixty kids” – it’s hard to take in. The pager he carries as a member of Woodhill Rural Fire Brigade was beeping frantically. I shout at him to “go, go, go” “just get there” – irrelevant really, he was already out the door. In horror my mind goes into over-drive – where’s Julia (our 15 year-old daughter)? Was Peter, our son, picking her up? She wasn’t on the school bus to-day was she? The fear was indescribable. I’d seen the school bus crash-testing video. I’d read the research. I’d spoken to the experts. Julia walks in the door, Peter behind her. I get a measure of relief. But I was still in panic mode – two school buses in collision, sixty kids. At what speed? What happened? Buses are protected in collisions with cars – they’re bigger and heavier. But bus on bus or truck on bus is just about worse case scenario. The hard, exposed, unpadded steel inside school buses can cause horrible injuries. The low-backed metal-rail topped seats offer no protection, in fact they contribute to human damage. They can even become missiles themselves. Long-distance coach seats are securely anchored to the chassis. But why worry about applying that standard to “route” buses – after all these vehicles only carry kids, our kids. Like, why bother with a strong roll-over cage on a “route” bus – the law just doesn’t require it, they’re just kids, our kids. Accidents don’t kill – it’s the collisions after the collision that kill and maim. The collision of soft bodies on hard surfaces, the collision of brains and delicate organs on skulls and bones. A modern long-distance seat-belted coach rolls 30 metres down a cliff just after last Christmas. 57 people on board. One person killed. Minimal injuries. A school bus goes over a cliff in 1987 – design almost identical to the buses our kids travel in everyday. 20 on board. 8 killed. 12 badly injured. We can’t stop accidents – but we can stop kids getting killed and maimed in them. To-day’s, after an agonising interval of not knowing, turns out to be “minor” – a bump occurring at a barely crawling motion of 5klm/hr. Why then are 6 kids taken to hospital and 20 treated at the scene? Seatbelted in a normal sedan an accident at that speed wouldn’t have caused a scratch. 6 kids taken to hospital after a 5klm/hr collision with every child seated – what would we be looking at in a collision at even 50klm/hr in a bus packed with standing kids? It’s like the fates are throwing pebbles at us, trying to wake us up. But fate can sometimes be very cruel. I just hope to God that the next time my husband’s pager goes off this community hasn’t been thrown a huge great rock."

Australia's top coach expert heaps scorn on Government bureaucrats - Emeritus Professor Peter Joubert OAM, a KEY quote from his submission to the 2001, "Queensland School Transport Safety Task Force":-

". . . . . . . . This brings us to one of my main points, namely, bus accidents with school children and especially coaches on freeways at high speed may be rare events but when they occur they are so horrific as to bring the wrath of God and especially the wrath of the parents of the children upon the heads of the bureaucrats and the members of the investigating committees who hide behind statistics for their lack of proper protection of school children." (BACK)

Child killed in NSW school bus crash - Friday, February 2nd 2001 (ABC News Report):-

"One person has been killed and 25 people injured in an accident involving a school bus and two cars at Wandandian on the New South Wales south coast.

The accident occurred at about 4:00pm AEDT on the Princes Highway just north of the Sussex Inlet turn off.

The bus was carrying more than 20 children from St John the Evangelist High School at Nowra.

Terry Godding from the Ambulance Service says 10 people have been taken to Milton-Ulladulla Hospital while another 15 have gone to Shoalhaven Hospital.

"Reports back have advised that unfortunately there is one patient deceased in the accident, and the other children are all shaken with minor injuries," he said.

"We've dispatched ambulance buses to transfer them up to Shoalhaven Hospital."

Police say that the Princes Highway will be closed for at least six hours, and are urging motorists to avoid the area." (BACK)

"The National Highway Transportation Safety Authority" (USA) - Some key conclusions about keeping school bus passengers safe (September 21st 1999 - "Recommendations in Regard to Increased Occupant Protection for School Bus Passengers "):-

"In the accidents analyzed for this special investigation, school bus passengers who remained within the seating compartment but not within the intrusion area during the accident sequence were less likely to have been seriously injured than passengers who were out of the compartment before the collision or who were propelled from the compartment during the collision."

“Once pertinent standards have been developed for school bus occupant protection systems, require newly manufactured large school buses to have an occupant crash protection system that meets the newly developed performance standards and retains passengers, including those in child restraint systems, within the seating compartment throughout the accident sequence for all accident scenarios”. (BACK)