Relief As Bus Students Escape Serious Injury

The Age

Saturday September 18, 2004

Jamie Berry, Selma Milovanovic, Andrea Petrie

The Royal Children's Hospital activated its disaster plan yesterday to cope with an influx of 21 teenagers injured after a school bus and a truck collided in the Burnley Tunnel.

While all the children walked off the bus, eight had suspected spinal injuries.

A hospital spokeswoman said that eight students were expected to stay the night in hospital. "We're awaiting results from CT scans and spinal tests," she said.

The collision caused afternoon traffic chaos on CityLink. Hospital spokeswoman Jane Calvert took the unusual step of going on radio to ask for calm and understanding from drivers as some ignored lane closures, and were blocking the path of some of the 15 ambulances dispatched to the scene.

Others tried to reverse into nearby streets. "Drivers really need to think of the bigger picture here - they are putting at risk the lives of our workers who were helping clear the scene and the lives of the people involved in the accident," Ms Calvert said.

The accident happened at 12.15pm as thousands of Victorian students were preparing for a two-week holiday.

About 40 year 10 students from Lyndhurst Secondary College and staff were involved in the crash as they were returning from a week-long school camp in Queensland.

Leading Senior Constable Winston Hastings said it appeared the truck braked to avoid a car that had stopped in a lane and the bus ran into back of truck.

"It (the truck) has managed to stop in time but the bus has then collided into the truck."

While the 61-year-old truck driver from Corio and the bus driver, 48, of Wangaratta, were not injured, 21 students aged between 15 and 16 were stabilised at the scene before being taken to hospital by ambulance.

Police and paramedics marvelled that the students did not sustain more serious injuries.

Ms Calvert said most students and staff walked from the crash site through a tunnel for pedestrians, which stretches from the middle of the Burnley Tunnel to the Burnley Street exit.

The pedestrian tunnel, a last-minute addition to CityLink, was designed for evacuating people in emergencies and had not been used before yesterday.

The crash renewed calls for the mandatory wearing of seatbelts on school buses in Victoria.

The bus, operated by Myrtleford company Oke's Bus Lines, was fitted with seatbelts, but Tom Witte, a manager with the Metropolitan Ambulance Service, said many passengers were not wearing them.

In a statement, company director Graham Oke said he was relieved the students and teachers were not seriously injured but refused to comment further while the matter was being investigated.

Leon Hain, traffic and bus safety spokesman for the Victorian Council of School Organisations, said the incident "definitely proves the advantages of seatbelts".

"The children, if they weren't wearing their seatbelts, get thrown all around the bus," he said. "There's no question that seatbelts and other safety features should be on all school buses."

© 2004 The Age

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