Searching Inquiry Into Tragic Bus Accident

Chronicle (Levin), 1 June 1949, Page 3

Searching Inquiry Into Tragic Bus Accident

SYDNEY, May 31. The acting State Minister of Transp,ort (Mr. "W. F. Sheahan) has called for a searching inquiry into the crash of the double decher bus in which fonr people were killed and 34 injured. Mr. Sheahan said the Coroner had power to make the inquest a searching public investigation. The bus driver, who escaped with a sprained ankle, attributed the accident to the front wheels being jammed by either the mudguard or body preventing him straightening up for the run to" the bridge. The bus ha'd actfially negotiated the last hairpin bend of the shalrp descent but the wheels remained iocked ard over. He told detectives that traffie was light and the road in good order although damp from rain. It was his first run in that particular bus. On the trip from Manly he had noticed that the brakes were not gripping evenly, causing a drag to the left and it was his intention to report this when Teaching the control point at the bridge. The speed on rounding the last turn was between eight and 10 miles per hour. The accident was the first fatal one in 17 years since the transport department commenced operating buses. The worst previous bus accident in Sydney oecurred on March 10, 1947, when a bus overturned at Balgowlah on the same run and 65 of the 78 passengers were taken to hospital.