Manchester Bus crash

Resident

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Yesterday day a bus, part of the Bee Network, in Manchester slammed into a low bridge, injuring multiple passengers, one said to be critical.

This immediately went across our industry & there is a lot of speculation as to how it could have happened, including from me.

There is footage, on social media, of the event from what appears to be a Ring security camera.

Tracking data from the vehicle (publically accessible) shows the bus was off route after turning right one junction too early

news.sky.com

Bus driver arrested after 20 people injured in Manchester crash

The bus hit the Bridgewater Canal Aqueduct on Barton Lane in Eccles on Monday, with the top level of the vehicle torn off and a passenger ejected from the top deck.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 
Its pretty simple really

The driver should be aware of surroundings, his vehicle height and the height restrictions of what/where he is driving through

You wouldnt drive a lorry in to an underground carpark if there is no clearance, why would you drive a bus under a bridge when there isnt the height to do so.



The bridge height restriction appears to be signposted, and also has a pre height warning check with hanging chains. He should have noticed this ahead of time
 
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DJMK4 said:
Its pretty simple really

The driver should be aware of surroundings, his vehicle height and the height restrictions of what/where he is driving through

You wouldnt drive a lorry in to an underground carpark if there is no clearance, why would you drive a bus under a bridge when there isnt the height to do so.



The bridge height restriction appears to be signposted, and also has a pre height warning check with hanging chains. He should have noticed this ahead of time
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I think that's the point, even with all that how did they still manage to do it.
 
Who knows... But it happens every now and then.
I remember when I was a kid, I saw half the roof peeled back on a double decker after he tried to drive it under the bridge at Finsbury Park..
 
Diddums x said:
New driver perhaps?
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Been told that the driver was a 50yr old male. I mean he could have just started as part of a career change.

I've got my money on he didn't know the route but management told him to do it and just follow the route guide (printed on paper). He's turned one junction too early and was looking at the guide not the road and hit the bridge. The sad part about that is if that's the case, management will deny all knowledge of doing so.

Bus Drivers - We drive them and get thrown under them.
 
Resident said:
Been told that the driver was a 50yr old male. I mean he could have just started as part of a career change.

I've got my money on he didn't know the route but management told him to do it and just follow the route guide (printed on paper). He's turned one junction too early and was looking at the guide not the road and hit the bridge. The sad part about that is if that's the case, management will deny all knowledge of doing so.

Bus Drivers - We drive them and get thrown under them.
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What would they have to deny? They gave him a route that avoided the bridge, he messed it up (fine, we all miss a turning every now and again) and then missed all the warning signs about not driving under the bridge (no one else's fault but his).
 
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DJMK4 said:
The bridge height restriction appears to be signposted, and also has a pre height warning check with hanging chains. He should have noticed this ahead of time
Click to expand...

Having looked on Maps. There's a bar prior to the bridge. How did he get under that?
 
Resident said:
I've got my money on he didn't know the route but management told him to do it and just follow the route guide (printed on paper). He's turned one junction too early and was looking at the guide not the road and hit the bridge. The sad part about that is if that's the case, management will deny all knowledge of doing so.
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I get you have a kindred kind of connection with the guy, being a bus driver yourself, but that's some Olympic level mental gymnastics going on there to try and exonerate him.
 
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I have also seen something as stupid happen before


the M49 motorway in between the new servern bridge and the M5 intersection rings a bell


The very guys that was building a new junction, drove one of the cranes that was building the junction (drove it on motorway road below) INTO the actual junction. the crane was tilted at an angle, and they had to close the motorway due to an unsafe junction roundabout above


Stupid things can happen


Although i guess this bus driver may have a review on if he will be allowed to drive the public again i guess.
 
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Resident said:
Having looked on Maps. There's a bar prior to the bridge. How did he get under that?
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The bar has hanging chains that will hit a vehicle that's too tall, but it doesn't stop the vehicle. The idea is it should alert the driver to the incoming low bridge.
 
tom_e said:
What would they have to deny? They gave him a route that avoided the bridge, he messed it up (fine, we all miss a turning every now and again) and then missed all the warning signs about not driving under the bridge (no one else's fault but his).
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Use of route guides in lieu of proper training is a big safety no-no in the industry yet managers will push people into doing it, particularly newer drivers who don't know any better.

GravyMonster said:
I get you have a kindred kind of connection with the guy, being a bus driver yourself, but that's some Olympic level mental gymnastics going on there to try and exonerate him.
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You misunderstand me, hitting the bridge is 100% the driver. No question of that but in transport incidents it's not just the incident that gets investigated, it's also the lead up to the incident. Was something done/not done to prevent it. Is there a requirement to change a regulation/procedure etc.

IF it is how I speculated then either replacing him with a driver who knew the route or buddying him with a driver that knew to guide him (which is how route learning is supposed to be done) would have prevented it from happening in the first place. That falls upon management and that's what investigators will look at.

However all too often a manager will tell a driver to do something, it'll backfire and then the manager denies doing so when asked by investigators. . I've personally pushed back on manager's telling me to go against not only company policy but industry regs too.

Nutty667 said:
The bar has hanging chains that will hit a vehicle that's too tall, but it doesn't stop the vehicle. The idea is it should alert the driver to the incoming low bridge.
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Having looked back on the Streetview. It appears the chains are missing on the side that the bus came from
 
Kenai said:
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Wow :/

if you adjust (slow down) the speed of that video, nasty!


That could have had decapitated written all over it


If you look at 9seconds in to the video and up the quality to 1080p, and pause it, is that 2 people lying at the back of the bus where the back section is hanging off ? thats horrific


The driver must be punished
 
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It does seem implausible that this could happen at all given all the safeguards, signage, chains etc. if it wasn’t for the video…!
 
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