Side impact protection

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tonyp
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Side impact protection

Post by tonyp »

I would like to think that Australian-manufactured buses have better side-impact protection than this American bus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5ANtYTPSBE
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Re: Side impact protection

Post by TA3001 »

That is nasty! Sort of makes me glad that I don't sit at the front of a bus by default. This sort of reminds me of a scenario on a PMC O305 rigid in the early 2000s, but in short, what I just said. I hate sitting in front of the middle door, unless I'm chatting to the driver.

He'll probably get off with a 6 month good behaviour bond, with the poor man who had to jump for his life receiving the much heavier sentence.
tonyp
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Re: Side impact protection

Post by tonyp »

TA3001 wrote:That is nasty! Sort of makes me glad that I don't sit at the front of a bus by default. This sort of reminds me of a scenario on a PMC O305 rigid in the early 2000s, but in short, what I just said. I hate sitting in front of the middle door, unless I'm chatting to the driver.
I don't understand the logic of that. The car could have hit the bus anywhere along the side, it just happened to hit at that point in that particular accident.
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boronia
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Re: Side impact protection

Post by boronia »

I think the inference is that the floor line is higher behind the centre door, and the rear axle might offer even more protection from a side intrusion. (One of the downsides of a fully flat floor??)
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tonyp
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Re: Side impact protection

Post by tonyp »

boronia wrote:I think the inference is that the floor line is higher behind the centre door, and the rear axle might offer even more protection from a side intrusion. (One of the downsides of a fully flat floor??)
Low floor trams have a lot of protection against side intrusion and I assume the same is now done on low floor buses (except in USA??). That's the point I'm asking about.
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busrider
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Re: Side impact protection

Post by busrider »

A few years ago in Adelaide, a bus was hit side-on by a truck, the damage was nowhere near as severe as the crash shown in the video. However, the truck didn't hit the door side of the bus, so that might've been a reason the damage was less severe. Image from ABC article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-24/c ... de/4481748

Image
tonyp
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Re: Side impact protection

Post by tonyp »

busrider wrote:A few years ago in Adelaide, a bus was hit side-on by a truck, the damage was nowhere near as severe as the crash shown in the video. However, the truck didn't hit the door side of the bus, so that might've been a reason the damage was less severe. Image from ABC article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-24/c ... de/4481748
It was still hit in the low floor area (wheelchair space too by the look of it) with no intrusion. There's no reason the door side should be different, still the same vertical members and horizontal (and maybe diagonal?) side intrusion beams. I suspect the American bus is simply crap design/manufacturing quality, which is interesting considering they usually tend to be notorious for over-engineering.
Last edited by tonyp on Tue Jan 31, 2017 9:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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boronia
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Re: Side impact protection

Post by boronia »

It is difficult to compare damage like this without knowing more about the circumstances of both accidents.

The ute in the video seemed to be going quite fast, whereas the truck in the Adelaide incident could have been going much slower. With the ute, its KE would be concentrated into a small contact area, whilst the truck's is more spread out across its full front.

While the US bus should probably have performed better, let's not forget that the STA Mk4s had sides weak enough to require rebuilding within a few years of service. I wonder how they would have performed under similar circumstances?
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