Do you feel nervous about coach trips??

And the drivers were above the drink driving laws?

Absolutely.

They seem to be very notorious for crashing.

Total nonsense. The opposite is true. Coaches and buses generally are an incredibly safe form of travel. The reality is that the level of risk is negligible.

Either OP needs professional help with her anxiety (in which case she has my sympathy) or this thread is a wind-up.

Of course I do. Because I don't make a horrendous and rare tragedy all about me.

In the 90s I was transported to school on a classic route master double decker and a series of other classic buses and coaches. Homecounties semi rural.

I agree. As a parent there will always be some degree of worry about what your children are doing every day, even as they become adults. But in order that they, and you as a parent, can experience a normal life you have to put this to the back of your mind, as best as you can. This thread seems almost gleeful. Horrible.

This is exactly why news is bad for you.

Mainstream news makes out that these sort of "disasters" happen all the time - they don't. For every one "coach disaster", there may be 299,999 coach journeys which happens without incident. Because they are rare, they get an inordinate amount of attention. As others have said, car crashes happen all the time, and are barely reported.

I don't like admitting this but I always feel nervous when mine go off on a school trip. I'd never prevent them going but I'm always secretly worried. My sister said that she felt the same too as we were discussing yesterday's news.

I can't really avoid them when we're abroad but they make me super nervous hurtling around mountains and cliff tops too. I was never like this before children!

No they don't. But when one does it is in the news because many more people are affected than when a car overturns.

You clearly have anxiety around this issue which is also making you seek out news stories about coach accidents, or notice them more than news about other accidents. Confirmation bias.

A double decker? Your experience gets more and more unusual. I’ve never seen a double decker used for school transport either in rural or urban areas.

Nonsense, I’m an 80’s kid, travelled on loads of coach trips and was perfectly fine

It never overturned but several times got stuck with a 'lean' which was fun if you were on the top and had to make your way out

I think lots of people struggle to assess and interpret risks. Car crashes happen every single day. People die in car crashes all the time. But most people don’t think twice about getting in a car. People seem to think things like coach crashes happen all the time but when asked to name a few they struggle.

A similar example is I love theme parks and rollercoasters. I can’t count how many people have asked me if I get worried going on them because of all the crashes. I ask which crashes? Most people say oh that one and Alton towers and…… the others. They actually can’t really name any. Because it’s very rare. Yes they happen. And they make the news when they do. But if you add up how many people go on rollercoasters world wide every day and how many people die or are injured it’s very low. I can name more plane crashes than rollercoaster accidents. But there’s still many many many more deaths from cars and just at home than there are from rollercoasters and plane crashes.

Maybe - who knows? It was a coach for a religious school and a "special school" as was in a rural area and was absolute carnage TBH!

So are we going to have a generation of children who never go anywhere or do anything because of helicopter parents ?

That had nothing to do with coaches as a mode of transportation and everything to do with one incredibly shady transport company. Forty years ago.

Nope, still not buying it. My coach to school days were 70s/80s. No seatbelts and overcrowding were the norm but not drunk drivers or regular accidents.

Really??
What next, we shouldn't send children to school, ride their bikes or play in a park because unfortunately, no matter how many precautions are taken, tragedies are sometimes unavoidable.
You're trying making a thread out of a horrific incident

Exactly my first thought!

I also feel it’s important to add that the parents who chose to send their children on that trip did not make a mistake, did not expose them to excess risk and didn’t make the wrong decision.

This is a tragedy, an unimaginable tragedy and the pain the families and friends and school community experienced should not be increased by second guessing the decisions made.

those children will have had a wonderful day at the zoo with their friends and classmates and those days are precious. No one could imagine it would end like this.

kiss your kids, cherish them and remember life is a gift and utter shit truly does happen.

Every term though? 😳

I've never heard anything like this, during the 80s or at any time to be honest.

No they don't

I understand this anxiety as I grew up in Hagley and went to the school opposite the one where they had the absolutely hideous mini bus crash. I always felt a bit nervous when my dc went off in the school mini bus, but equally would never have stopped them going because of my anxiety. It is very rare and cars are more dangerous.

This was in the 80s - the coach drivers were often drunk, we had to report one to the police for propositioning 11/12 year old girls, and careering off the road in a particular rural area and having to get police help out of ditches was common.

I let DS go on them - he went to Gulliver’s World a couple of weeks ago with school. Any accident is tragic, especially if a child is killed but thankfully they are very rare