Surely Phil that the buses will have some sort of black box that will accurately show the speed he was travelling at.
I apologise, and your right, I am not in possession of the facts, but my initial opinion is based on the picture, and not just imagined out of thin air, I have taken a look at the position of the bus, and if anyone moved it from the scene and parked it like that, then it would most likely have been moved a very short distance to allow access, but not far enough that the police couldn't use its positioning for any investigation. The bus is in a position you would expect after a collision, in that it looks as if he has swerved to avoid contact. It may be that the bus has been moved a long way, but then it most likely would not have been left in that position. That is far more to go on than Phil saying he was speeding with nothing to go on other than whats in his head. My reasoning to using the term irresponsibly was not meant in a bad way, but that people seem to think its because she may not have looked right, and for me, that is irresponsible no matter the situation, but even more so when you have a child with you. Sickening you say, why, because I won't do what some do and only consider the position of the deceased? And only think and talk about what we could have done to prevent the incident by pointing the finger elsewhere? I feel very bad for her and her family, no-one deserves to go through that. I also won't go blaming one side, without also considering the blame on the other side of the coin too. People need to take responsibility for themselves, I don't expect you to look after my well being, or anyone else for that matter, I am able to look out for myself, as no doubt the young lady did, unfortunately she may (or may not, as we don't have the facts) have made a lapse in judgement which has resulted in a horrible accident. After all, that is what the bulk of the arguments are about, in that people don't think to look the other way when crossing the Kingsway, so it is deemed dangerous, and as a result, changes should be made to make it safer. Where as I look at in a way that it could in fact be made safer, but at the same time people need to be more aware of the surroundings, and I am not just on about anyone who has been involved in a bump on the Kingsway, but everyone. I see it often enough outside my own flat, where people cross the road without looking and come close to being knocked over. I am not saying that this is what the lady would have done, but its the big discussion on why the kingsway should be changed, people not thinking to look right. If a person is killed in a car accident when speeding, would you think it wrong to say he/she shouldn't have been speeding, its the same thing, just in a different light, saying what they should and could have done differently. Or are we not allowed to talk about that these days? Are we only to feel pity and not question to what may or may not have happened, and what could have been done to prevent it, in this case from both a council standpoint and a personal standpoint? I agree it is a crap layout, I have said so since it was introduced. But that doesn't make it dangerous. I still maintain that people should be more aware of their surroundings than pointing the finger elsewhere. But lets face it, its not the only reason why the city centre is dead. On-line shopping affects shops, the smoking ban has always affected pubs. Are all the boarded up pubs around Swansea also a result in poor road layout planning? I live in Port Talbot, we don't have an issue with a poorly designed road layout, yet our town centre is still crap, with boarded up shops. Yet its ok for those who want to lay blame solely on the council and the road layout? OR a speeding bus? Interesting, so we are only allowed a 1 sided blame game until the facts are in. And the closest thing we have to any idea of what happened, which is a picture, is not allowed to be used to discuss it. Very interesting indeed.
PCV and LGV vehicles use a digital taco system, and speed is recorded, although not on the card, but the unit itself (unlike the old paper tacho system, which recorded speed on the paper) They will no doubt know how fast the bus was going as I believe it is stored for 24 hours.
"That is far more to go on than Phil saying he was speeding with nothing to go on other than whats in his head." - swanselona I didn't say that the bus driver in this instant was speeding, but it's been my observation over many years that these Buses accelerate to fast in built up areas, and I have witnessed Buses definitely exceeding the speed limit on many occasions over the years, that's what I have witnessed! So yes Bus drivers are like any other motorist they do break the speed limit, and they do get prosecuted. but local authorities will be very reticent to release much information, not that they hold much info anyway, you have to get that from the Bus companies concerned under the freedom of information act, and best of luck to you with that. PS: I view Bus drivers as inept a Taxi Drivers just for the record, not saying all of them though. BY THE WAY swanselona try digesting this sunshine!........ DOZENS of Cardiff Bus drivers caught speeding Link: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cardiff-bus-drivers-caught-speeding-1844147
What happens to you bus drivers when you get a speeding ticket? I was speaking to a driver from stagecoach south wales a few weeks ago, in his depot they have a fund in which each of them contributes a small amount per week too.. and if any of them gets a speeding ticket then it's paid from that fund. It doesn't seem to be unusual to them as their managers tell them to "put their foot down" if they are running late and the speedometers on quite alot of their buses don't work properly.. the B10 coach he was driving said he was doing 20 on the A470 (dual carriageway) when quite clearly it was at least 50! Reason this come to the front of my mind to ask here was that the driver of my bus home earlier couldn't slow down from 50-60 fast enough into a 30 zone due to the poor breaking on the bus and got flashed by a camera. What do the management think of this? (first operates the route I take daily **************************************************************************************************************** The above was a question from a member of the public on a Bus Drivers forum, the answer was that they all pay into a fund to cover speeding tickets. like I originally said, I hope South Wales police investigate this vigorously as I do not trust bus drivers as far as I can throw them.
First cymru have won many awards for safe driving and have won the safest bus drivers uk award many times......It was a tragic accident not helped by the continual swapping and changing of the road system...First Cymru has one of the best if not the best safety records in the whole of the UK....
Never once said bus drivers don't speed, you however said if she was hit at 20mph she would have likely survived. Which I take as saying you believe she was hit at a greater speed than that. If that is not what you meant, then I have misread and I apologise, but that is how I read it. Also I personally find taxi drivers more inept than bus drivers, taxi drivers live off the money they earn through jobs so tend to blitz around the place as thats how they make more money, time is money to them, bus drivers not so much, as they get paid by the hour regardless. Not to mention the extra regulations and tests performed to get your PCV licence.But even then, there will always be inept drivers, in any walk of life, but think it wrong to tar them all with the same brush because of a few.
Just to clarify, she could easily have been in the unlucky 10% statistic as much as the driver over the speed limit, plus it was a Bus and not a car, I don't know the facts, but what I do know is that I have observed these Bus drivers speeding more than once, which the WalesOnline link with the Cardiff bus drivers confirms. Just for the record I doubt she was hit at 20 MPH or less, but not impossible.............
Yes she could have been phil. But if she had waited at the lights and waited for the green crossing man and crossed there then this tragedy most likely wouldn't have happened.
Yes if that is correct Trunds then I completely agree, still terrible tragedy, and I'm sure the facts will come out, Swansea city councils inept continous changing of the traffic flow doesn't help.........
The road flow is in the wrong direction, for as long as that's the case then more accidents will happen. Even the one way system means it's in the wrong direction. It's time for the council to make the changes back to the way it was, and have a two way traffic system up past the old police station up towards I think Mansel Street. And Swanselona there are lots of problems in swansea, the transport policy is the back breaker for many businesses, high taxes and more and more businesses are closing up shop are making the situation worse. I know my business who like to open in swansea will not due to high costs.
Basically to little to late, they are saying there's a problem on the kingsway without saying it in the press. To afraid of lawsuits I guess
I travel daily between Waunarlwydd and the Cocket lights where there is a 40mph speed limit and have never seen a First Cymru bus exceed this limit. Dom't forget the journey times are planned so there is normally no need to speed.
I see so much dangerous driving where pedestrians are concerned, these days you really need to have your wits about you, you cannot have any distraction on your mind while negotiating complex road systems as a pedestrian, by the way as a driver myself I will always give the benefit of the doubt to pedestrians, just last week a women stepped out in front of my car and forced me to make an emergency stop, she was bloody lucky I'm pedestrian conscious, the shock on her face when my car skidded to a stop inches from her, she never looked when stepping in front of my car, the relief on her face when she apologised was enough for me. I like fast cars, always have, but in built up areas I'm very careful, maybe we should think bike, think pedestrian more often?.............
I agree Phil, as a driver we always have to be prepared, its why I tend to try and look well ahead of the road, not just the car in front, I try to take in as much as I can, cyclists, pedestrians, other cars, cars coming the other way. You will never avoid everything, but it is always handy to at least have an idea what to expect ahead of you. I am slightly different in my views on giving the benefit of the doubt, me personally, if it is an incident on the road, the benefit for me goes with the driver. He/she after-all is using what is there for them to use. The pedestrian, may well be like you mentioned, one that forgets to look. That doesn't rule out speed being a cause, but for a pedestrian to get hit on the road, for me personally, is something I don't see as a normal thing to happen. If it was on a crossing, then the benefit would go to the pedestrian, but on an open road, and not on a crossing, you have to ask how they were there. I apologise if anyone has taken any of my comments as offensive, or inconsiderate, I always knew it wouldn't go down well with everyone, but its something at least somebody needs to question IMO. Sometimes it is seen as wrong to say what is really on your mind, but in this instance I am not a big fan of blaming road layouts, or vehicles when someone gets hit on a road. For me the question needs to be asked, why were they there in the first place.
The point is if you ever hit a pedestrian you will never think any other way than giving the pedestrian the benefit, even if it's not your fault as the driver, because thats how it affects you. I once had a little 8 year old boy run out from between parked cars in Morriston, I was on company business at the time, and I was moving from 2nd gear to third, I had no chance to ovoid the little lad, as I hit the brakes that day, the lad still went over my bonnet and I still see him today going over my bonnet. Fortunately for the little lad and me, he came off lightly with cuts and bruises and a fractured bone. I called the Police and Ambulance services they came quickly, and the police said there was nothing more I could have done, the lad was very lucky that I was going so slow. But that still put payed to me for at least a week off from work, and from then on I have always been very careful in built up pedestrian areas and city centres............
