Key question surrounding Hunter Valley wedding bus crash
As Australians reel from the devastating bus crash in the Hunter Valley, an investigation will focus on one key fact.
As Australians reel from the devastating bus crash in the Hunter Valley on Sunday night, a key question has emerged over seatbelts.
The crash, which resulted in the loss of 10 lives, was the deadliest on Australian roads in more than 30 years.
There are currently 21 more crash victims in hospital, with one in a critical condition.
Driver, Brett Andrew Button, faces 11 charges over the tragedy after the bus ferrying wedding goers to Singleton overturned at Wine Country Drive, near the Hunter Expressway off-ramp at Greta.
This morning Acting Assistant Commissioner Tracy Chapman said police have already collected some witness statements, last night and today in hospital.
She declined to comment on whether seatbelts were worn, or reports that the bus was being driven erratically.
Were passengers wearing seatbelts?
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb on Monday said a key part of the investigation would scrutinise whether the bus was fitted with seatbelts and whether passengers were wearing them.
The coach, a Volvo with 57 seats, was operated by Linq Buslines.
The business has more than 30 years’ experience and a spokesman confirmed to news.com.au that all their buses are fitted with seatbelts.
The spokesman said the company was “incredibly saddened to learn of the bus crash that occurred on Sunday night” but said it would be “inappropriate to comment further while the investigation is under way”.
It is a legal requirement for passengers to wear seatbelts if a vehicle is fitted with them.
Senior bus industry advocate Chris Lowe said alcohol sometimes played a factor in people not wearing seatbelts on buses travelling from events.
“As much as the driver says to everybody on the bus to put your seatbelt on … some people just don’t,” he said.
“The law says that the onus is on the passenger, you have to put your own seatbelt on … and that’s the law because it saves lives.”
Seatbelt laws could be strengthened
Commuter buses in Australia are not required to have seatbelts, but national design rules mean they are now standard on coaches, Geoffrey Clifton from the University of Sydney’s Transport and Logistics Management Institute told news.com.au.
Mr Clifton said there is a “complex web of responsibilities” between coach passengers, drivers, managers and owners of bus companies.
He said Australia’s road laws were broadly in line with international standards in comparable countries but that enforcing seatbelts on coaches is where the laws can be strengthened.
“This is an area where safety could potentially be improved. If we can get more drivers and passengers wearing seatbelts we will have safer coaches,” he said.
NSW Premier Chris Minns told the media he was open to legal changes about seatbelts if the investigation showed they were needed.
“We will be in constant communication with NSW police,” he said.
“[If] there’s a recommendation made to us about law changes in relation to safety on buses or coaches or in cars and vans in NSW, we’ll of course take action.”
Bus company under the spotlight
Linq Buslines is co-owned by Chris Fogg, the grandson of industry legend Sid Fogg.
According to The Daily Telegraph, in 2012 Chris Fogg faced the media after a bus run by another coach company he co-owns killed a 38-year-old Sydney woman.
The Port Stephens Coaches bus struck the woman at Beecroft in northwest Sydney while she was carrying her baby.
The baby was unharmed, having been thrown to safety by her mum.
A coroner found that the woman killed was hidden from the driver’s view. He was not charged.
Driver appears in court
Mr Button appeared in Cessnock Local Court today, where he sobbed as he was granted bail.
He appeared in court in a black jumper and was supported by members of his family, charged with 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death and one count of negligent driving.
Opposing an application for bail, the prosecution said 10 witnesses gave evidence to police about Button’s “prolonged behaviour and dangerous driving, where he said ‘fasten your seatbelts.’”
But Magistrate Robyn Richardson ultimately granted him bail, saying bail should not be denied as punishment, noting the “onerous” conditions and saying his mental health was of concern.
A police source, who was not authorised to speak publicly, told the Sydney Morning Herald Mr Button was not intoxicated at the time of the crash.
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