Bus crash on Wellington Quay

ClareBear

Originally posted by dangerman
this is not a time for bertie bashing.

the idea that bertie was getting in the way of emergency workers is total bull****.

like it or not he's the taoiseach, and should have been there today to offer his condolences in a national tragedy such as this. please leave ur i-hate-bertie sentiments at the door on this one.

thoughts are with everyone affected & thanks to the emergency services.

Well said!

segadreamcast

^ Exactly. Have to say all the net was a bit slow with the news too...I searched here at 2:15 about it and saw nothing... thought the person telling me must've imagined it.

Tom Dunne

Originally posted by BuffyBot
And if he didn't turn up, he'd be accused of not caring. Can't really win, can he?

Exactly BuffyBot and well said Mike65. In situations like this Bertie's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

Could we please leave politics out of this - there are people dead FFS.

seamus

Details on what exactly happened are still sketchy :dunno:

Latest that I got from ireland.com was that an airbus (the bus obviously not the plane) driving down the quays swerved to avoid something, came inside the parked bus and up onto the pah. That could very obviously be wrong, since to hit the queue would involve coming up pretty much alongside the waiting bus.

If there is no clear cause in the end, an investigation needs to be carried out. If what I've heard above is true, then either the driver was going way too fast for the south quays, or there was a serious lack of proper judgement. I get the bus from that stop and drive by that stop regularly - If I had the choice between hitting the back of another bus or mounting the kerb, where loads of people are always waiting, the choice would be obvious.

My thoughts are with the families of those killed and seriously hurt tonight.

It's been a week of freak accidents. Ireland has generally not had a good week

BuffyBot

It wasn't an Airlink bus, just one of the ones painted in the new yellow/blue/blue colour scheme.

The "As Serbhis" bus was returning to Coyningham Road garage

Details are still admittedly sketchy though. The buses involved have been removed and brought to Garda HQ for examination.

Emboss

What's all the fuss?

More people die on the roads on any given bank holiday weekend.

:rolleyes:

Krusty_Clown

Emboss: More people die on the roads on any given bank holiday weekend.

Possibly true, but that doesn't make it any less of a tragedy.

Red Alert

Well i just saw the spec sheet on the net of the buses: they were 2 of the new 'AV' ones by TransBus/Volvo. Looks like it's driver error: they've got ABS, Electronic Brakes and full traction control. Papers say the As Seirbhis driver might have had a seizure, poor man. Assuming he wasn't negligent or anything like that I hope he's alright and his career isn't over.

Someone mentioned CCTV - the buses have CCTV cameras fitted so if the tapes can be got hold of then they might know what was actually going on in the cabs.

Emboss

Originally posted by Krusty_Clown
Possibly true, but that doesn't make it any less of a tragedy.

But we don't feel the need to start a thread every tuesday after a bank holiday discussing the death's?

anthonymcg

Originally posted by Emboss
But we don't feel the need to start a thread every tuesday after a bank holiday discussing the death's?

I think the point is that these people weren't in transit, they were standing on the side of a road waiting on a bus.

Emboss

Originally posted by anthonymcg
I think the point is that these people weren't in transit, they were standing on the side of a road waiting on a bus.

i fail to see how someone getting a bang of a bus and someone getting thrown out of a car window/into a car window is anymore worthy of a thread....

vgar

Originally posted by Emboss
What's all the fuss?

More people die on the roads on any given bank holiday weekend.

:rolleyes:

How very considerate of you Emboss!
Sure, more people do die on any given bank holiday, but its just the nature of this accident that is a lot more "unusual".

I mean five people are dead and seventeen are injured! People who were just standing on the path waiting for their buses to pick them up to take them home.

I stand at that bus stop everysingle day waiting for my bus and when I heard about the accident I freaked out! How lucky was I not to be in town when it happened?

I'm not saying that this is in any way worse than when people loose their lives in other traffic accidents, but at the same time it is no less and a little respect for those who lost their lives and their families wouldn't go astray! Thank your lucky stars you were not walking by that bus stop at that time and its not you lying in a body bag right know while someone else turns around and says "What's all the fuss!".

You're lack of respect in the face of such a tragic disaster sickens me!

mneylon

Originally posted by vgar

You're lack of respect in the face of such a tragic disaster sickens me!

I don't think he's being disrespectful. On the contrary I would be of the opinion that Emboss raises a very valid point.
Why is it that so many people die on our roads and we accept it?
The points system may have made the gardai and government feel happy with themselves - it's SO easy to catch people speeding on a motorway or dual carriageway, isn't it?

vgar

Okay, fair enough, I'm sorry for getting so defensive. Just when I read that its hard to tell what way they mean it when there is no voice behind the words.

I understand the point about how we see loads of people dying on the roads all the time and Emboss was wondering why this warrants a thread and the rest don't.

I would agree with that, but the fact is a thread was started by someone. Why they started it for this and not other accidents is irrelevant, the point is it was started and if you feel it doesn't warrant any more attention than other accidents then don't post in it. Start a new thread asking why people find more relevance in some situations than others.

Emboss, sorry for jumping down your throat, I just think you could have been more tactful in getting your point across!

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Walter Ego

I think a tragedy like this is more than just counting the number of unfortunates who suffered and balancing them against the normal carnage on our roads.

It shakes us because we daily put our lives in the hands of people we do not know such as bus, train, taxi drivers, pilots, nurses, doctors etc etc.

Our society is based on mutual trust and when any part of that that trust is shaken we all are frightened.

That is why we express sympathy, genuine sympathy, because we all feel close to the tragedy and by extension we all suffer a small part of the loss.

Emboss

Originally posted by vgar
Okay, fair enough, I'm sorry for getting so defensive. Just when I read that its hard to tell what way they mean it when there is no voice behind the words.

I understand the point about how we see loads of people dying on the roads all the time and Emboss was wondering why this warrants a thread and the rest don't.

I would agree with that, but the fact is a thread was started by someone. Why they started it for this and not other accidents is irrelevant, the point is it was started and if you feel it doesn't warrant any more attention than other accidents then don't post in it. Start a new thread asking why people find more relevance in some situations than others.

Emboss, sorry for jumping down your throat, I just think you could have been more tactful in getting your point across!

That's ok, I should have ranted on a bit more to make the point blacknight summed it up well enough

BrianD3

I agree with Emboss' comments. It is a tragedy, but there are lots of tragedies on the roads. There have been plenty of accidents in recent years where 5 or more people were killed in the once incident, and far less fuss was made.

I'll tell you why there's been more fuss made over this latest accident. The circumstances of the accident were unusual, it was a "freak" accident and it was a "spectacular" accident. Yes I know, describing a fatal RTA in these terms is sick. But that's how the media looks at these things. Accidents like this make good stories.

Plus, it happened in Dublin. When 5 people die on a quiet country road in the middle of nowhere, it barely gets a mention in the media. When a bus crashes on the quays in Dublin with a similar death toll, it's big news.

The media sickens me.

And I'd just like to know - of all the fatal RTAs that have occured in the past few years, how many times have the Minister for Transport AND the Taoiseach visited the scene of the accident? Not many, I'll bet.

BrianD3

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

BrianD3

When that family died in North Cork last month it was all over every front page in the country

Was it the top story on Sky News?
Was there a thread started about it on boards.ie?
Did Brennan or Ahern visit the scene? (probably not)
Did the President send her condolences to the families? (probably not)
You can be sure that the media will still be getting good mileage out of the bus crash a week or so from now, did the same apply in the case of the Cork accident?

BrianD3

Dustaz

Jesus Briand3, stop being so stupid.

You know full well that the reason its on sky is that its unusual. A Car crash is not unusual, tragic certainly but they happen all the time. This type of thing doesnt. It makes me sound callous but thats the way it is.

Victor

People die standing on the side of the road all the time http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?postid=1412964#post1412964

Yes, this incident is tragic and a little unusual, however, 7 people die every week on the roads in Ireland. That is the real story.

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by tom dunne
Could we please leave politics out of this - there are people dead FFS.

thats exactly the point Deacon Blues was making wasnt it. it wasnt a political issue at all. bertie shouldnt have been there imo.

seamus

Originally posted by whosurpaddy
thats exactly the point Deacon Blues was making wasnt it. it wasnt a political issue at all. bertie shouldnt have been there imo.

Why not?
He was in the area. I don't think it had any political motivations whatsoever. If I was Taoiseach I would have gone down.

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by seamus
Why not?
He was in the area. I don't think it had any political motivations whatsoever. If I was Taoiseach I would have gone down.

i just dont think he served a purpose by being there, and was a distraction the emergency services ddint need.

fenris

Did anyone hear the dublin bus spin doctor on morning Ireland dodging the questions about busses stopping in the middle of the road instead of at the kerb ?

She seemed to be of the opinion that being able to barge back out into traffic easier was justification for having passengers queueing in the road. But squirmed a lot when the presenter challenged her.

anthonymcg

Originally posted by fenris
Did anyone hear the dublin bus spin doctor on morning Ireland dodging the questions about busses stopping in the middle of the road instead of at the kerb ?

She seemed to be of the opinion that being able to barge back out into traffic easier was justification for having passengers queueing in the road. But squirmed a lot when the presenter challenged her.

I've been getting buses from that stop since it was moved from Abbey Street and yes sometimes buses stop a bit out from the kerb and you walk to meet it. I never saw it as a problem or danger before.

On the whole Bertie thing, I don't think him being there in any way impeeded emergency services at all. The victims had left the scene by the time Bertie was there.

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by anthonymcg
On the whole Bertie thing, I don't think him being there in any way impeeded emergency services at all. The victims had left the scene by the time Bertie was there.

i dont know that thats true, bertie was there fairly soon, and wasnt there someone trapped for some time.

uberwolf

TBH no emergency services personell is going to be distracted from their work by anything during an incident, his presence would have impeded no body. To suggest otherwise is an insult to their professionalism.

Sleipnir

Originally posted by whosurpaddy
it wasnt a political issue at all. bertie shouldnt have been there imo.

Can you imagine the outcry if Bertie didn't go and was asked "why not?" seeing as he was the area and Bertie's reply was
"It wasn't a political issue"

Leaders often go to the scene when there is a major incident and he wasn't there while the emergency services were still getting people out.
He may have been "at the scene" but that doesn't mean he was kneeling beside the ambulance staff asking what they were doing.