Double Decker Bus Hits Low Bridge... WTF?

[Chil1234]

Bus carrying schoolchildren crashes into bridge It's becoming a depressing hardy perennial. Every year a double-decker gets its top sliced off by a low bridge, injuring passengers - this time children. Just who are these idiots that drive double-deckers around full of passengers, not sticking to the approved route & not paying any attention to simple roadsigns? And why in an age of sat-navs and parking assist technology can't someone invent a detector for the driver's cab that bleeps or something when they're approaching a low bridge? Unbelieveable.

I have lost count of the amount of times this has happened near us, it is unbelievable!
What I want to know, is the driver altering the route for some reason, or was he sent on his way in a dd bus when it should only have ever been a single decker for that route?
It is frightening, surely a driver should be aware of the height of his vehicle!!

It's writen above the drivers head but everyone forgets if you are used to a different rout a different bus on a diversion etc such things can and will happen.

I once saw the top of a bus on the road infront of a bridge, god knows where the bus was, I was on the 266 going to work, the driver just stopped the bus and radioed in very confused about how someone managed that without noticing (and it was a double decker I was on as well that all ways goes under that bridge all buses are different).

It's not good enough though, is it? Human error is a fact of life but there has to be a better way to avoid this depressingly common situation with low bridges than a little sign and keeping fingers crossed that the driver is on the ball. Train drivers have all kinds of warning signals and safety measures going on in their cabs. A full bus might be 80 or 90 people. That's a lot of lives to risk...

You have absolutely no idea what it's like to be a bus driver do you?.

I used to know a 266 driver, know a guy who is a mechanic at another bus company.

They cut corners like mad to make more money anyway they can just like any other company.

The drivers are treated like crap, there are no set times you could be driving a night bus one day and a day time bus the next.

Trains are all the same on the line, the drivers know the trains well, bus drivers get moved from route to route all the time and from bus to bus, since TFL don't make there own all single deckers and double deckers are different made by Mercedes, Volvo, ADL etc, all different ages, all different models.

it's not the same as trains at all, tube trains are all the same on each line with very little changes with newer models, they are on a set track, a train driver can never get lost, never go on a unfamiliar diversion, visibility at different times of day, other traffic etc all simply not a factor.

Don't compare buses to trains compare them to cars/lorries and as we know there are many accidents on the road every day for many many reasons.

And never sit at the back of a Volvo bus made in the last 5 years, they are fire hazards thanks to TFL taking a load of safety mechanisms out of them to fit there precious CCTV equipment in.

I never thought I'd do this, but....

I think you're making a lot of excuses for what sounds like an all-round poor service and don't actually understand why. We're just supposed to throw up our hands and say 'nothing we can do about it'?

No, you're supposed to recognise that the problem is actually far worse than 'driver error'. Clearly, I would have thought.

you described the drivers as idiots, Chil - hardly fair in the light of Ryoko's post.

so as TFL are clearly at fault, have a go at Boris instead, maybe

(I hadn't looked at your link, & I see that incident was not in London, but I bet the same applies outside London)

It's worse in some cases, in Wales for example the MOT centre for the buses is owned by one of the bus companies leading to much falsification of documents (apparently).

And is a case of what you gonna do, yes there are a few things they could do, make sure the drivers get set shifts day or night not a mix, make sure the buses are all in good condition can pass an MOT etc.

but there really isn't anything you can do to stop em hitting the odd bridge just as there is nothing you can do to stop the odd car ending up under a lorry, the roads are a dangerous place end of.

Don't you realise where they get all those open top buses for London sightseeing from?

There is a route, that goes under a low railway bridge, my dp drives. At some times of the day has single deckers and at other times double deckers.
When driving the double deckers the route is altered, so instead of carrying straight on you take a right turn immediately before the bridge. It only takes a split second to think about something else (and bus drivers do have an awful lot to think about) and forget what vehicle you are driving and you've hit the bridge.
OP - Your comment about idiots who don't stick to the road signs is not realistic. How many of us that drive a particular route every day, actually look at the road signs. You do if you are driving somewhere new, but not if you go that way regularly.

Another one Adding to the argument that if we can't rely on 'busy' drivers to read road signs and be in control of their vehicle, there need to be other measures to prevent these 100% avoidable accidents.

This sort of incident is not new. something very similar happened when I was on a school trip to York in the 1970s. I was 11 years old at the time and sat on the top deck. Fortunately the driver did realise something had happened and stopped before the top of the bus was completely sliced off.

It was later explained to us that the local double decker buses were made to be a lower height than usual so that they could fit under these bridges.

Sounds as if the bus operators are remarkably lax about safety. They need to change their working practices ASAP so this cannot happen. Train drivers have to have a ticket for their route - i.e. have learned the route. Bus companies could run the same system, if they could be bothered. And have a system of safety checks before a bus leaves the terminus, so drivers are warned about any diversions and height restrictions. And surely there should be a compulsory rest period so drivers aren't setting off on a few hours' kip?