Belgian coach crash in Swiss tunnel kills 28

[Nawdic]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17362643
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17363474 <--- (WARNING! rather graphic)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17370278

Rather self explanatiory really...

Discuss.

[61653]

So, the coach hit the end of an alcove near an emergency exit- Why on earth were there not crash-barriers in place to prevent this ? I'd expect them to be fitted fairly promptly following this tragedy...

[Kevo00]

Once again, a major coach crash takes place, with deaths in the double digits and no wider questions are asked about safety in the industry. This crash was major enough to get the BBC interested despite there being no British involvement. If there was a train crash this bad in Switzerland people (well, journalists, bloggers, and the kind of people that ring up TalkSport) would be jumping up and down and suggesting that all railways were inherently unsafe death traps.

[JGR]

The very fact that this sort of crash is rare in Europe is what made it newsworthy.

The occurrence of one however does not imply that something is drastically wrong with safety or whatever. Real life is not a zero risk activity, nor does a single event imply an increase in future risk.
Additionally, society is strongly averse to multiple-fatality incidents. If 28 people had died in separate vehicles accidents in Switzerland that day no-one would have batted an eyelid.

[61653]

The very fact that this sort of crash is rare in Europe is what made it newsworthy.

The occurrence of one however does not imply that something is drastically wrong with safety or whatever. Real life is not a zero risk activity, nor does a single event imply an increase in future risk.
Additionally, society is strongly averse to multiple-fatality incidents. If 28 people had died in separate vehicles accidents in Switzerland that day no-one would have batted an eyelid.

This is a good point, and knee-jerk reactions usually only result in a sore chin...

but then again, it took a while for drivers wearing seatbelts to become commonplace even when it was made compulsory- in the US even now, many road deaths are directly attributable to the non-use of seatbelts. Having a concrete wall perpendicular to the traffic flow right next to a major international transit route frankly smacks of negligence on the part of whoever maintains and specifies the level of infrastructure.

[Kevo00]

The very fact that this sort of crash is rare in Europe is what made it newsworthy.

The occurrence of one however does not imply that something is drastically wrong with safety or whatever. Real life is not a zero risk activity, nor does a single event imply an increase in future risk.
Additionally, society is strongly averse to multiple-fatality incidents. If 28 people had died in separate vehicles accidents in Switzerland that day no-one would have batted an eyelid.

I agree, but its not the occurrence of one crash; coach crashes happen every few months, and in an industry with a duty of care to its customers accidents should be investigated to determine if any reasonable steps can be made to prevent future occurrences. If 28 people were killed in a rail accident in any European country there would be a comprehensive review as to why the accident happened and what steps could be taken to avoid a re-occurrence. Certainly within the UK context there are bad coach crashes, whether service or private hire, every few months, and this level of risk deserves investigating.

A brief survey of the BBC site shows the following:

February 2012 - schoolteacher killed and 20 hurt in a school excursion bus crash in France http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-he ... r-17108586
Dec 2011 - a coach was drunkenly driven into 8 parked cars http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-16309715
November 2011 - bus apparently hits car in Essex http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-15793854
July 2011 - car driver killed in crash involving a coach in Norfolk http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-14260428
July 2011 - coach collides with three vans on A322, five people injured http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-14161650
July 2011 - coach collides with a truck on A417; 19 people sustain minor injuries http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ox ... e-14119663
May 2011 - driver killed in coach crash on A1139
Dec 2010 - coach overtuns in Norfolk injuring 19 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-14146711
Dec 2010 - Oxford Tube overturns - seventeen people taken to hospital http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ox ... e-15628775

Many of these incidents, of varying severity, were caused by driver error. That would suggest to me that driver error is something the coach industry ought to look at to improve safety. By looking at accidents in isolation we fail to spot trends that can help prevent further accidents.

[Valle]

So, the coach hit the end of an alcove near an emergency exit- Why on earth were there not crash-barriers in place to prevent this ? I'd expect them to be fitted fairly promptly following this tragedy...

The design of those rather common emergency exit alcoves is a death trap - whoever allowed those to be placed in a highway tunnel should be taken to a dark room and beaten.

[John]

So, the coach hit the end of an alcove near an emergency exit- Why on earth were there not crash-barriers in place to prevent this ? I'd expect them to be fitted fairly promptly following this tragedy...

The design of those rather common emergency exit alcoves is a death trap - whoever allowed those to be placed in a highway tunnel should be taken to a dark room and beaten.

I expect the 'designer' was doing as he was told. But remember quite a few people would have had to approve that design before the tunnel opened.

Had a quick look on google street view there are 4 alcoves - 2 have barriers protecting the wall (or rather the emergency exit), 2 don't. Of those, the coach would have to be really unlucky to hit one, and the other should really have been designed without an abrupt concrete wall...

[Valle]

I wonder why they designed the wall like that in the first place. Why not shape the end walls in a way that they will gradually send a vehicle back onto the road rather than stop it immediately? Many tunnels are built like that, and such spots are potential death traps. This crash was just a matter of time.

[FooBar]

I wonder why they designed the wall like that in the first place.

Costs. Things like that are very expensive to build. Having it taper gradually will make such a thing at least twice as expensive, possibly four times as ground forces work completely different on a tapered bit. So they try to make these as short as possible.

However what they should have done is make it just slightly longer and put a crash absorber in. I wouldn't be surprized if they install these things everywhere in the near future.