School Bus accidents

Just The One

Correct me if I am wrong but, in the past 12 months there have been three incidents involving Bus Eireann school buses going on fire - Navan, Athboy and Limerick.

What do yo think should happen. Should all school buses over 15 years old be retired from service?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

it's just that god hates Irish school children

Archeron

Mordeth wrote:

it's just that god hates Irish school children

Now thats what I call a comprehensive answer:)
I would say that whatever tests these buses are going thorugh, and passing should be seriously looked at. That is of course, presuming these problems could have been spotted at whatever test that is. (DOE??)

happydaz

it's not even the 15year old buses taht i'd be concerned about. i used to have one that was 30years old (it was a 1969) and it caught fire with us in it-went to be fixed and we were back in it 3days later!! i don't think seatbelts are the answer either-we don't have seatbelts on dublinbus and that's not a problem....

mike65

The entire 'fleet' has to be surveyed by an independant company then over the summer any bus that can be fixed should be, and any that can't -scrapped. Part of the problem is the number of vehicles that are used in a semi-offical fashion, the drivers may not even have a licence never mind a valid DOE.

Mike.

Stephen

The driver of the last school bus that crashed (a non-bus eireann one) only had a provisional licence. That kind of crap needs to be stamped out.

Just The One

Stephen wrote:

The driver of the last school bus that crashed (a non-bus eireann one) only had a provisional licence. That kind of crap needs to be stamped out.

Really? which one was that? the one in athboy???

Stephen

No, the mercedes minibus one a few weeks ago where the rear axle came off.

this one i think: http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0404/rta1.html

re the licence: http://www.offalylive.com/_news/localarticle.asp?NID=90806&NCID=13

John R

mike65 wrote:

Part of the problem is the number of vehicles that are used in a semi-offical fashion, the drivers may not even have a licence never mind a valid DOE.

Mike, that is a very serious accusation. Any evidence to back it up?

I know of certain mickey-mouse operations that have used un-licenced drivers but I have never heard of BE employing one. Same goes for the DOE.

There is nothing wrong with the buses that would require them being scrapped, the age of them is largely incidental. It is a case of shoddy repair practices.

I would put money on all the fires having occoured shortly after a running repair was carried out, a few bolts or a pipe aren't replaced properly and some oil starts dripping onto an exhaust pipe; a few hours later up in flames.

Dublin Bus had a spate of bus fires a while ago, mainly from one particular garage with a reputation for below average maintenance. The buses involved were relatively new, 4-6 years old. They improved the maintenance standards and there has been no fires from there recently.

The layout of bus engines and all the heat shielding can make them more susceptible to catching fire than cars or trucks.

mike65

I did say may.

Mike.

bushy...

Stephen wrote:

No, the mercedes minibus one a few weeks ago where the rear axle came off.

The vehicle left the factory with a leaf spring rear end and was then converted to a bus and had air suspension fitted instead, so either crap engineering first day or crap maintenence.

"Inquiries have established that the axle sheared off and that rust marks on one of the brackets holding it to the body of the vehicle indicated that it could have been detached for some time.
Eyewitness accounts indicated that the bus hit a bump on the road as it travelled to Rahan on Tuesday morning. As a result of the bump the rear axle popped out of the clasps attaching it to the bus. The bus then spun around and ended up partly in a ditch, facing back towards Clara."
from here http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:vK-ceHD4E84J:www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3%3Fca%3D9%26si%3D1595786%26issue_id%3D13906+mercedes+minibus+rear+axle+ireland&hl=en&gl=ie&ct=clnk&cd=1&ie=UTF-8

Could be anything with the fires though, maybe operators are running mix of kerosene (cos of fuel prices ) afaik it runs hotter.

Gosh

It's happening too frequently and with devastating consequences for families and communities, both Bus Eireann and the Government have to do stop the prevaricating and do something NOW to stop the loss of young lives.