Dublin Bus crash in Crumlin

Hotblack Desiato

Passed a crash this morning involving a Dublin Bus on Kildare Road.

Looked like the bus struck a tree to the left of the road, then turned right at the mini-roundabout immediately afterwards and ended up on the pavement against a garden wall just after the roundabout. No sign of it having struck another vehicle as far as I could see (I couldn't stop.) Of course that doesn't mean the bus wasn't taking avoiding action from another driver.

Fire Brigade were just sweeping up at that stage, so although one ambulance was on the scene, hopefully nothing serious in the way of injuries.

Between this, the Luas crash and lots of other crashes I've heard about, seems this is a pretty dodgy time of year as commuter hell kicks in in earnest.

dub_commuter

ninja900 wrote:

Passed a crash this morning involving a Dublin Bus on Kildare Road.

Looked like the bus struck a tree to the left of the road, then turned right at the mini-roundabout immediately afterwards and ended up on the pavement against a garden wall just after the roundabout. No sign of it having struck another vehicle as far as I could see (I couldn't stop.) Of course that doesn't mean the bus wasn't taking avoiding action from another driver.

Fire Brigade were just sweeping up at that stage, so although one ambulance was on the scene, hopefully nothing serious in the way of injuries.

Between this, the Luas crash and lots of other crashes I've heard about, seems this is a pretty dodgy time of year as commuter hell kicks in in earnest.

Must be a 121 or 46a then?

I.S.T.

I passed it, it was a 121. There is a lamp post on the left site of the road badly damaged which looks like it was struck also. The right side of the bus had a lot of damage.

dub_commuter

So do we know what caused this yet? I noticed some of vehicles going around on similar routes haven't sounded the most healthy lately but I hope it's not down to a defect somewhere.

MiniD

dub_commuter wrote:

So was it driver error or bad maintinance, i've noticed standards at Phibsborough both in attitudes and conditions of vehicles slip quite a bit in the last six months so I would hope that this is fully investigated.

Considering the accident only happened this morning, it is unfair to suggest garage maintenance is to blame. I would assume every bus is maintained to the same standard regardless of garage, and I'm sure this accident will have a full investigation.

Hopefully passengers and driver make a speedy recovery and thankfully there weren't more injuries.

dub_commuter

Yeah, I was a bit over-zealous, I've edited my comments.

Dub13

Dublin Bus have new CCTV units on all buses,so most accidents can be cleared up fairly fast.

Hotblack Desiato

RTE.ie wrote:

Three treated after Dublin Bus crash
Wednesday, 19 September 2007 12:51

Three people have been taken to hospital following a crash involving a Dublin Bus vehicle in Crumlin in Dublin this morning.

It is understood the 121 bus mounted the footpath and crashed through the garden wall of a house on Kildare Road at around 9.15am.

The driver of the double decker bus and two passengers have been taken to hospital suffering from shock.

No other vehicle was involved in the incident.

Hard to figure out what happened here, as the bus apparently struck a pole on the left before the roundabout, I saw a tree with the bark freshly scraped off it as well (And a demolished wheelie bin, it was bin day there.) It then looks like the bus went straight across the wrong side of the mini-roundabout before striking the garden wall. Pic on RTE website.
Luckily nobody seems to be badly hurt. Could have been nasty if oncoming traffic had been present - or people on the path.

John R

From http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhcwidojidid/

A passenger was today forced to control a double decker bus as it swerved across a road and ploughed into the garden wall of a house, an eyewitness said.

The man in his 20s desperately tried to grab the vehicle’s steering wheel when the female driver appeared to slump forward.

The driver of the 121 route bus and the two passengers onboard at the time were taken to hospital to be treated for shock.

Dublin Bus and the gardaí have launched separate investigations into the collision which occurred at the junction of Clonard Road and Kildare Road at around 9.15am.

Describing the incident, a female eyewitness said: “There was a young lad trying to take control of the bus. He was trying his best but he couldn’t. I don’t think the driver knew where she was.

“By that time it had hit the front wall and partly into the front garden.

“There was an old lady on the bus and she was screaming because the bus was swerving all over the place.”


Dublin Bus declined to comment on the nature of the injuries suffered by the driver or the cause of the incident ahead of a comprehensive accident report.

"A team of accident investigators from Dublin Bus examined the scene and the crashed vehicle before it was towed away,“ a spokeswoman said.

“Our investigators will also examine all witness statements and CCTV footage in the area to help us compile our report.”

About 4% of Dublin Bus drivers are currently female.

The eyewitness also described that panic descended upon the scene after the bus hit the wall.

“It was just panic. Everybody started running. Everybody tried to help. The driver was actually in the cab but nobody could get her out.

“A man got a screwdriver and was able to open the driver’s cab and get out the driver.”

Two fire engines and two ambulances attended the scene as well as the gardaí.

Nevyn

About 4% of Dublin Bus drivers are currently female.

Why did they bother to put that in ?

meanmachine3

Thaedydal wrote:

Why did they bother to put that in ?

thaedydal i dont think it was a qoute from dublin bus, theres no "". i think the media got that from somewhere and just added that bit in. before reading the breaking news from John R. i thought it might have been a power steering failure.but after reading that it could well be anything.

bazzer

dub_commuter wrote:

Must be a 121 or 46a then?

We all know the 46A is the darling of the Dublin Bus system, but I'm just wondering what would make you think this route goes anywhere near Kildare Road?

(Not trying to be smart, just curious!)

dub_commuter

bazzer wrote:

We all know the 46A is the darling of the Dublin Bus system, but I'm just wondering what would make you think this route goes anywhere near Kildare Road?

(Not trying to be smart, just curious!)

http://www.dublinbus.ie/your_journey/viewer.asp?placeName=Kildare%20Road

bazzer

Quite an anomaly.

johnny_ultimate

Thaedydal wrote:

Why did they bother to put that in ?

Yeah was quite confused by the inclusion of that completely pointless sentence myself.
"What an odd thing to say...".

Samson

Thaedydal wrote:

Why did they bother to put that in ?

The driver of the bus being discussed was female.

Nevyn

johnny_ultimate wrote:

Yeah was quite confused by the inclusion of that completely pointless sentence myself.
"What an odd thing to say...".

Honestly it pissed me off, as if the accident was in relation to her gender and not to worry folks most of the bus drivers are male.

The bus driver could also have have red hair and you dont' see a % about that.

Samson

Thaedydal wrote:

Honestly it pissed me off, as if the accident was in relation to her gender and not to worry folks most of the bus drivers are male.

I didn't read that into it at all, it just looked as if it was there for "matter of fact" reasons.
Aren't females supposed to less accident prone behind the wheel?

Nevyn

I don't know what the stats are for bus drivers but you didnt' see a fact about the % of male bus drivers when one of them killed people with a bus.

johnny_ultimate

Thaedydal wrote:

I don't know what the stats are for bus drivers but you didnt' see a fact about the % of male bus drivers when one of them killed people with a bus.

"14% of Dublin Bus drivers have 2 or more goldfish"
Honestly, the female statistic is as pointless as any random percentage they could have thrown in there. It's great that in our liberal Ireland, they still - wheter voluntarily or involuntarily - throw a pretty backwards reference about working women in there.

Maybe Im reading too much into it, but it really was a very odd comment for said journalist to make.

Dub13

I also taught the female statistic was a bit strange.

Aquavid

I found it jarring that they would throw in that statistic, but even worse is the construction of the sentence.

"About 4% of Dublin Bus drivers are currently female"

That reads that 4% of DB drivers are people who, while they happen to be female today, may become male tomorrow, or have been male yesterday.

The correct way to structure the sentence is:

"Currently, about 4% of Dublin Bus drivers are female"

That's if you wanted to put the stat into the article, which IMHO wasn't needed.

Reminds me of a piece I saw on BBC Ceefax many years ago, which said (with punctuation exactly as below)

"The bomb damaged a car, which was owned by two Israelis and a house."

Aquavid

Michael Collins

bazzer wrote:

Quite an anomaly.

Perhaps because the 46A goes through Kildare Street might "kind of" explain that one...

The women bus driver comment was quite weird I'd have to agree.

Victor

I hope everyone makes a good recovery.

Its not unknown for drivers of any type to have a medical problem while driving. Some experience the first symptoms while driving.

Bus drivers in general have very good accidents records, despite the hours they put in on hte road.

---

I suspect the 4% came about in one of two ways.

1. Dublin Bus issued a press release (I suspect this is thr case based on the matter-of-fact nature of the story), that came from outside the PR department. As backgound, they put in the 4%, expecting journalists to ask the question.

2. After the press release DB got a phone call from a journalist along the lines of "Hi, I'm doing some background on the accident story. Bus no 121?. Kildare Road? Driver and two passengers in hospital? Oh, how many DB drivers are female?" It was then scribbled down andwent through the mediocre sub-editor processor unrefined.

Nevyn

Rte did not include the % on their reporting of it.

Victor

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0919/dublinbus.html - listen to the Audio & Visual bits - aparently it happened on Clontarf Road :rolleyes:

I.S.T.

Some photos I took at the scene

I.S.T.

and a few more

jebuz

Cheers for the photos, it really did plough through that wall! I guess we should be glad nobody was walking on the pavement at the time.