Motoring Discussion > Bus accident in London today	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Fenlander	Replies: 34

Mon 2 Feb 15 15:08   Bus accident in London today - Fenlander

Anyone noticed this? www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-31097083 Odd... seems to have hit a tree that leans slightly towards the road but must have been missed by thousands of vehicles in the past. Edit: Better images in the mail (as usual)... www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2936448/Four-people-injured-London-double-decker-bus-gets-roof-ripped-TREE.html Last edited by: Fenlander on Mon 2 Feb 15 at 15:09 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 15:21   Bus accident in London today - Bromptonaut

Know the area well. In fact I worked in the building outside which it happened at different times in two Civil Service posts. I don't think it's the first such accident on Kingsway either. The trees are a hazard but there is signposting, visible in the photograph, to warn of them and the bus lane has been removed from that section. Driver error and no excuses. Similar accidents have been fatal in past. Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 2 Feb 15 at 15:22 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 15:35   Bus accident in London today - Pat

I think the warning sign could have been a bit earlier! Pat Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 15:44   Bus accident in London today - Bromptonaut

>> I think the warning sign could have been a bit earlier! >> >> Pat There are other 'low tree' warnings further back towards Holborn Pat. Kingsway is also arrow straight and bus drivers should have enough route knowledge to be aware of such restrictions. Of course he might have swerved to avoid one of the cyclists that swarm round the area...... Reply to this message | Report message       1

Mon 2 Feb 15 15:46   Bus accident in London today - Bromptonaut

Anothe angle, this time from The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/02/london-bus-roof-ripped-off-after-hitting-tree-in-holborn Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 18:24   Bus accident in London today - CGNorwich

Even the trees lean to the left in the Guardian Reply to this message | Report message       1

Mon 2 Feb 15 16:25   Bus accident in London today - Pat

:) I didn't realise there were earlier signs but even so, we should remember that every driver is a 'new' driver at some point.....yes, even all of us were! Pat Last edited by: Pat on Mon 2 Feb 15 at 16:26 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:11   Bus accident in London today - Bromptonaut

>> :) >> >> I didn't realise there were earlier signs but even so, we should remember that every >> driver is a 'new' driver at some point.....yes, even all of us were! >> >> Pat The problem has developed over a number of years, probably most of the 30 or so I worked within half a mile of there. The earlier signs are between Remnant St and Sardinia St, fastened around several of the trees. A friend who still works in vicinity tells me the viral joke around the office was about open top tours. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 15:45   Bus accident in London today - Zero

Its been windy the last few days, Its possible a tree limb cook have cracked at the trunk and sagged lower than normal Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 16:18   Bus accident in London today - Bromptonaut

That's possible Z but the pictures suggest an impact with the trunk of the tree directly outside the north entrance to 22 Kingsway (now part of King's College I think). Whether due to previous cropping, photo-tropism on account of the office block's shadow or whatever the trees have grown out over the carriageway, the 'lean' becoming gradually become more pronounced over the years. In an ideal world I'm sure TfL would like to fell them completely but they're an attractive part of the Kingsway street scene and any such plan would be vigorously opposed. The alternative solution adopted was to remove the bus lane south of Sardinia St and to place signs warning that the nearside lane was height restricted. Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 2 Feb 15 at 16:18 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 16:37   Bus accident in London today - Zero

> >> over the years. In an ideal world I'm sure TfL would like to fell them >> completely but they're an attractive part of the Kingsway street scene and any such plan >> would be vigorously opposed. If they lean any further it stops being a street and becomes a park. Something has to give. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:00   Bus accident in London today - Duncan

>> I think the warning sign could have been a bit earlier! >> >> Pat >> He will have driven down that road a million times previously! One of my people has just given the inside info, he was forced to swerve by a badly trained truck driver from the Fens. Fact. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:05   Bus accident in London today - movilogo

Why it is always the case that upper deck just ripped off? Is the deck made of cardboard?? Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:47   Bus accident in London today - crocks

>> Why it is always the case that upper deck just ripped off? >> >> Is the deck made of cardboard?? It reminds me of last night's "Our Guy in India" on C4 where Guy Martin visited an enormous open-air truck repair and coach building area. Lots of the construction was cobbled together with flat sheet metal screwed to timber frames. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:57   Bus accident in London today - Zero

>> Why it is always the case that upper deck just ripped off? >> >> Is the deck made of cardboard?? The roof is solid, the deck is solid, the bit in-between is mostly glass. Hence it always peels off like a can of sardines Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 18:12   Bus accident in London today - Armel Coussine

The buses between Bath and Bristol used to use the old A4, which had overhanging trees here and there. Sometimes the buses would hit low branches with a startling bang. No windows ever broke in a bus I was on, but those buses all had dents in the nearside front of the roof. I imagine the bus company asked the local authorities to do something about it and was given the finger. Either the trees seemed more important than bus passengers' equanimity and safety, or there was some problem of chemistry or communication between the various bodies. Or both, why not? Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Mon 2 Feb 15 at 18:13 Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 09:19   Bus accident in London today - Cliff Pope

>> Why it is always the case that upper deck just ripped off? >> > I suppose it's harder to rip off the lower deck - like whipping a table cloth off leaving the crockery unmoved. :) Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 09:24   Bus accident in London today - Zero

Now that is a trick/stunt I would pay to see! Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:18   Bus accident in London today - Pat

Duncan, behave yourself and stop stirring it! If that's true it was probably Ian, I keep telling him I'm a better driver than he is;) Pat Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:22   Bus accident in London today - henry k

Thats a pretty big warning sign in the Guardian photo. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:29   Bus accident in London today - crocks

Surely the solution is to turn the left-hand lane into a segregated cycle lane. Reply to this message | Report message       1

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:30   Bus accident in London today - bathtub tom

The tree with the most recent scars looks like it's been hit several times before. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:31   Bus accident in London today - commerdriver

>> Thats a pretty big warning sign in the Guardian photo. >> Nice to see the Grauniad continuing its proud traditions, describing the sign warning of the dangers posed by overhanding trees :-) Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 2 Feb 15 17:35   Bus accident in London today - Zero

>> Thats a pretty big warning sign in the Guardian photo. Perhaps he swerved to avoid the sign. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 14:08   Bus accident in London today - BiggerBadderDave

Well, they just explained exactly what happened on the radio, and it wasn't low branches. He was leaning too close to the left, smacked the trunk of the tree and the impact shattered all the welds or joints around roof posts. Clearly, the solution is to move all London trees 50 cm away from the kerb. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 14:20   Bus accident in London today - Bromptonaut

It's the trees that lean BBD, although camber would be against the bus. There's a clear advisory sign for restricted height in the nearside lane southwards from Sardinia Street and extending as far as Aldwych - with space cleared for a loading bay outside 14-16 Kingsway. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 14:30   Bus accident in London today - BiggerBadderDave

Yes it was the camber. Clearly, the solution is to fit bigger wheels on the left hand side of the buses. Reply to this message | Report message       2

Tue 3 Feb 15 14:36   Bus accident in London today - henry k

>> Yes it was the camber. >> >> Clearly, the solution is to fit bigger wheels on the left hand side of the buses. >> Or "Will all passengers on the left of the bus crouch in the aisle or sit on the lap of those on the right !" Or else " Please adopt the brace position as in an aircraft !" Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 14:38   Bus accident in London today - WillDeBeest

www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Sidehill_gouger.html It's proper science. Honest! Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 14:40   Bus accident in London today - commerdriver

such beasts are of course distant relatives of the Haggis which is similarly adapted to the highland environment Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 15:13   Bus accident in London today - WillDeBeest

The haggis is harder to catch; you can't just wait on the side of a hill knowing that the beastie is bound to come round eventually. That's why it takes all year to accumulate enough for one measly dinner in January. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 15:21   Bus accident in London today - Slidingpillar

T'other problem is you wait for ages on a bitterly cold slope and the little terrors sneak past from behind you. Hunting clockwise haggi is all very well, but the mere act of searching for them brings the anti-clockwise haggi out. And visa versa. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 15:24   Bus accident in London today - commerdriver

That's why Haggis hunting is an active sport, you don't just wait for them you chase them so they have to turn round and thus fall over and roll down the hill into the haggis nets Even the English know that :-) Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 15:27   Bus accident in London today - Zero

If they kept the ruddy thing in their sporrans they wouldn't be running around lose like that. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 3 Feb 15 15:35   Bus accident in London today - Armel Coussine

>> they wouldn't be running around lose like that. Are you loosing it Zero? You just do this to annoy me, I know. Reply to this message | Report message