Ingham bus driver Michael Ryan says strength of Brisbane-made buses saved his life

Hero bus driver Michael Ryan credits the quality of Brisbane-manufactured coaches with preventing a mass casualty crash on the Bruce Highway.

Ingham bus driver Michael Ryan has been labelled a hero for his actions in controlling his coach after the bus carrying 35 Hinchinbrook Shire Council employees collided with a mini-van on Wednesday. Picture: CAMERON BATES

THE skill, experience and composure of Ingham bus driver Michael Ryan as well as the quality of Brisbane-manufactured coaches have been credited with preventing a mass casualty crash on the Bruce Highway on Wednesday.

Mr Ryan, however, has modestly shrugged off suggestions he is a hero after 35 passengers on his bus and two French tourists in a mini-van survived a 100km/hr smash at the Paluma intersection on Wednesday evening.

“I’m not a hero, I just did my job to the best of my ability — the passengers came first and their safety was my priority,” he said.

“My concern was also the two girls in the campervan, they are very very lucky to be alive.”

Micky, as he is popularly known in Hinchinbrook Shire, is a well-known and liked local bus driver, who can be seen on most days ferrying children to and from schools on his Ingham to Lucinda bus route.

Born and raised in Ingham, Mr Ryan started work in the cane fields at the age of 13 and has been driving heavy vehicles most of his life, including “35 years and six months” for the Hinchinbrook Shire Council and 13 years with the Herbert River Bus Service.

Those years behind the wheel had been incident free until Wednesday when his bus packed with council workers was returning home from the funeral of a co-worker in Bowen.

The family man, with two adult children, said he took evasive measures right before the collision with the mini-van and managed to strike the rear of the vehicle with the front right of the bus, exactly where he was sitting, leaving him covered in shattered glass.

“It’s lucky I did that because if I hit them a split second before, well, you know,” he said.

Mr Ryan said the structural strength of the bus prevented the cab from folding in on itself from the impact, saving his life and potentially the lives of the council workers.

He also credited the Denning Manufacturing-made Denning Phoenix coach for its stability and braking systems as he brought the bus under control off the side of the road about 30 metres from the initial impact.

“Put it this way, they are the best buses going around; it’s a solid bus, well made and it took the impact.”

He said if the bus had not hit the van, a truck travelling south would have struck it.

He said it was miraculous that both women in the mini-van survived, the driver with minor injuries from her seatbelt and the passenger unscathed.

Police at the scene of the accident labelled Mr Ryan a hero, with Hinchinbrook Shire CEO Alan Rayment thanking My Ryan for keeping the bus upright and “minimising what could have been a more serious incident.”

Daryl Romanello, owner of Herbert River Bus Service, added to the growing number of people who describe Mr Ryan as a “legend” and a “hero”.

“He’s done an absolutely fantastic job, absolutely incredible, even the people in the bus, in the front of the bus, the council people can’t believe how he did it,” Mr Romanello said.

“But he did it, and he’s very experienced, he’s a good operator.”

Mr Romanello said credit was also due to Denning Manufacturing.

“You get what you pay for, you know what I mean, it’s a classy bus compared to some of these things that they import from overseas.”

He said safety was the company’s ultimate priority.

Originally published as Ingham bus driver Michael Ryan says strength of Brisbane-made buses saved his life