NSW bus crash kills two

Route 888 · Post by **Route 888** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:38 pm

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=3467

krford · Post by **krford** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 4:08 pm

David Hamilton, the mayor of nearby Shellharbour City Council, said he was surprised a tourist coach would be using the Jamberoo Mountain Road.

"I've not known any coaches to use this road," Mr Hamilton said.

"I've never known them to use it except with extreme care when the Macquarie Pass is blocked."

Jim Eddy, who runs Jamberoo Recreation Park, about 3km from the crash scene, said the road was "reasonable" but narrow.

"It's a reasonable road but it's a bit tight for a bus or a truck – I didn't even know they used the road for that purpose," Mr Eddy said.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16 ... 21,00.html

Citybus · Post by **Citybus** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:29 pm

Just heard on Seven News that the bus carried Taiwanese tourists from Canberra on their way to the Nan Tien Temple. It was still unclear as to what caused the crash, but the road was wet at the time.

My question now is, why on earth did the bus take this particular road? Isn't there a more direct route? The first article mentioned "scenic route". Aren't all roads in this area just as scenic????

Simes · Post by **Simes** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 7:51 pm

seems it was a mini bus....

boronia · Post by **boronia** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 9:01 pm

Simes wrote:seems it was a mini bus....

Looks bigger than a Rosa, maybe one of the jap import Hino or Mitsubishi models??

Post by **Deano** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 9:26 pm

The other alternative to Jamberoo Mountain Road is Macquarie Pass (which is fine, but slow and has very high traffic loads) or to avoid any kind of an accident head north on the Hume Hwy to Picton Road, take that east to Mount Ousley Road which brings you into Wollongong.

Jamberoo Mountain Road has had heavy vehicles banned from using the road for some years. Though I have been up the mountain in a Club Coaches Mercedes O303 (?) on a School Excursion about 8 years ago. I remember it being a very very slow trip, and the hair-pin bends were very coach unfriendly. This was at a time though when Macquarie Pass was closed due to a scheduled land slip

Though the bus came off the road no where near the Hair Pin bends, obviously the driver had no idea with what he was doing to come off the road somewhere like that!

boronia · Post by **boronia** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 9:55 pm

The photo on news.com site shows the bus on its roof just behind some guardrail. Looks like it had rolled over from a higher level.

Probably the driver has tried to take a short cut to go to Kiama on the way through to Gong.

Rad · Post by **Rad** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:03 pm

The spot where the coach left the road is at the foot of the pass at the Daltons Road turnoff. This is an extremely steep section of road over 1 kilometre long followed by a right hand bend at the bottom. 22 pax and a trailer full of luggage would have been hard on the braking system particularly if the driver was not using a lower gear. Quite often you can smell the overheated brakes from cars coming down this section of road.
Actually Jamberoo Mountain pass rises from the valley floor to the top of the escarpment in just over half the distance compared to Macquarie Pass on the Illawarra Highway

Post by **Deano** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 8:33 am

It was a Jubo Coaches vehicle Hino import vehicle. Rego looked something like TV3836 on the news.

Post by **Deano** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 10:18 pm

Drove upto the scene of the accident today. The area is on a pretty long steep grade. The corner isn't very severe and should be easily navigated if travelling at an appropriate speed. The whole road seems as though you could get a bus along it, though it's a very narrow road especially in the higher parts even found it hard to pass other cars up there. Really it would've been worth just taking Macquarie Pass, a much better road than this one.

The signs say:

JAMBEROO MT ROAD UNSUITABLE TO TRUCKS, CARAVANS AND COACHES.

Really getting any kind of a trailer down the mountain would be quite a problem, let alone one attached to a bus.

The accident scene smelt very very strongly of burnt clutch, and rubber. Police have marked out the tyre marks from where the bus started braking to when it hit the barriers, and the bus went onto the wrong side of the road, then seems to have slid back into the guard rails and scraped along them before finally falling down the embankment.

The road for a car can be handled quite easily, though only minibuses would get up and down no hassles. Alot of the hairpin turns are quite steep and tight, i even hand to basically stop my car and do hill start to get it up one hairpin it was that tight. Stuffed if i know how the coach I went up there in a few years ago managed it!

If anyone is a keen road enthusiast and likes checking out tricky, interesting roads i suggest this one. The Kangaroo Valley and Barrengary Mountain road's are also really interesting roads, quite interesting to see how the Semi's that use thar road get through it.

Free Lance · Post by **Free Lance** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 10:50 pm

The sign on the approach to the hill quotes "NOT RECOMMENDED" but the road is useable. I know because I have been both up and down a number of times with a 12.2 metre coach travelling between Kiama and Canberra.

All it takes is a responsible and competent driver, and on one trip I passed another 12.2 m (going the other way) along the ridge toward the "PIE SHOP"

Rad · Post by **Rad** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:17 am

A third person has died in hospital this morning from injuries received. The driver still hasn't been interviewed

kitkat271 · Post by **kitkat271** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 8:46 am

Rad wrote:A third person has died in hospital this morning from injuries received.

Yes that is sad. Apparently this woman was actually put on life support until her family arrived from Taiwan when they decided to switch it off.

It was reported in the Chinese-language Sing Tao that the families of the accident victims were almost rioting outside the offices of the tour operator in Taiwan ...

An even sadder side to this crash is the diplomatic war erupting between the local Taiwanese government representatives and the Chinese embassy. Apparently the Chinese Embassy claimed it sent people to the accident site and to the hospital to "look after its own", and virtually gloated it got there ahead of the Taiwanese representatives.

Yesterday the Taiwanese issued a press release condemning the behaviour of the Chinese Embassy and accused it of playing political games, that it was never there for the interest of the "Republic of China" nationals but for its own political and diplomatic gain ...

A sad accident just turned into a political football.

Tom_G · Post by **Tom_G** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 10:12 pm

There was another local bus crash on the same day as the Jamberoo one. It happened near nowra and involved a local school bus and a car.

More details from the South Coast Register

http://nowra.yourguide.com.au/detail.as ... m=9&y=2005

Tom

Wrong Way - Go Back · Sun Sep 03, 2006 12:53 am

The Sun Herald wrote:Crash bus failed to meet basic rego rules
Alex Mitchell State Political Editor
September 3, 2006

A tour bus that crashed on a steep mountain road, killing three tourists and injuring 14, was defective but had been registered by the RTA even though it did not meet registration inspection rules.

A report by the Office of Transport Safety Investigations (OTSI) said the accident, on Jamberoo Mountain Road on the NSW South Coast on September 5 last year, was caused when the 24-seat bus's brakes failed, preventing the driver from safely negotiating a bend.

The report said the brakes overheated as a result of the driver's incorrect gear selection and poor braking technique. Although the bus was being driven with a defective brake pressure alarm system, this was not the cause of the crash.

OTSI also found that the Chinese-born driver, who only had five weeks' experience driving heavy vehicles in Australia, was required to drive the bus over a route that was signposted unsuitable for coaches.

The driver, who had held a heavy vehicle licence for 18 years in China, has been charged with negligent driving and is due to face court on September 14.

OTSI found that instead of engaging low gear, he drove the bus in fourth gear on a steep descent, despite warning signs on the road.

Five months before the accident, an engineer contacted the Roads and Traffic Authority twice to alert it to his concerns. The engineer, who had originally sent certification to the RTA to register the bus, subsequently became concerned the vehicle did not meet Australian Design Rules for roll-over strength and three-point seatbelts.

He subsequently said he had written to the company operating the bus twice in December 2004 saying the vehicle did not fully comply with safety standards. The company denied receiving the letters, the report said.

Simes · Post by **Simes** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 1:35 am

and here's the full report

http://www.otsi.nsw.gov.au/bus/IR-Jamberoo-final.pdf

doesn't look good for Jubo

kitkat271 · Post by **kitkat271** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:13 am

Simes wrote:doesn't look good for Jubo

But it won't stop "cost-conscious" inbound operators from using them in future.

boronia · Post by **boronia** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 7:27 pm

Quite a few other Asian coach companies operate the big Rainbows and an assortment of other Japanese coach imports. As they would all be over 15 years old, I wonder how they stack up for ADR compliance. You might be able to put in seat belts, but it is hard to fake roll over test!!

IIRC a few years ago the MoT bought in a requirement that to get a Driver Authority, you had to have an aussie licence for at least 1 (or 2 ??) years. THis driver was only here 2 months and got his. THis was promised to counteract the large number of Japanese working holiday people getting into the industry with few driving skills. Looks like this has been overlooked as well.

And of course in Sydney there are numerous asian "coach companies" running Toyota Taragos and Commuters, wherer neither the owner or the driver are accredited. Surpriisngly (or maybe not) the MoT can't/won't take action because it is "too difficult"

kitkat271 · Post by **kitkat271** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:21 pm

boronia wrote:And of course in Sydney there are numerous asian "coach companies" running Toyota Taragos and Commuters, wherer neither the owner or the driver are accredited. Surpriisngly (or maybe not) the MoT can't/won't take action because it is "too difficult"

Last few times I've been up to the Blue Mountains I've seen MoT inspectors at Echo Point checking compliance, log books and licenses of drivers ... so I guess it does happen ...

boronia · Post by **boronia** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:21 pm

Ah yes, but while they checking your DA and log book, etc ask them about these "operators" and see how quick they move on!!

Have you seen the Commuters that run on the shuttles from Town Hall down to the Casino? They show an operator accred on the door, but they dont have any of the required "Emergency Exit" signage, no "Do not access bus..." signs, and (back when they were required) no RTA HVIS inspection stickers. Couldn't see any DA inside either.

I've given MoT details of quite a few of these operators, even down to the owners name and address and customers, and they still keep on going.

busnut 1 · Post by **busnut 1** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:29 pm

the vehicle that crashed at jamberoo was a jubo imported hino rainbow with a luggage trailer filled with bags,i have owned a hino rainbow if u use a after market brake pads the bus will not stop it has to have genuine pads in the crash the driver was a trainee being trained by the owner of jubo tours of ramsgate which seem to employe drivers with no experience
and from my knowledge of jubo and previous experience of there drivers the trainee would not have had the knowledge of the rainbow brakes.

boronia · Post by **boronia** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:50 pm

THis is not the usual 19 seat Rainbow which can be found running around Sydney in large numbers, which has pretty iffy brakes even if you use genuine parts.

If you look a thte photos in the OTSI report, it is much larger, with underfloor bins and mentions a six cylinder engine. However it would not surprisee me if the brakes were still not up to the job.

The standard Rainbow does have a very effective exhaust brake, so I am at a loss to understand why the driver wasn't using it. But if he was going down this hill in 4th the engine revs may have been too low.

NSW bus crash kills two

NSW bus crash kills two

Crash bus failed to meet basic rego rules

jamberoo crash