Fatal collision: a bus driver smashed into a van parked on the highway slip road
Happier times: an enthusiast’s model of the actual Enviro500 Facelift bus which crashed, (serial 6420, licence plate VA1426)
A highway crash took the life of a 63-year-old bus driver last night as his double-decker bus crashed into a stalled van on the highway.
According to police, a light van was blocking the left-hand lane of the slip road of Tuen Mun Road just before midnight on 15 August. The van had reportedly broken down, although police have yet to verify the details.
Mr Chu, driving the bus on the 962B from Chi Lok Fa Yuen towards Causeway Bay, smashed into the van in a collision which destroyed the bus windscreen and knocked him unconscious. Chu died of head injuries less than an hour after the crash – according to police, the driver was the only victim, with no bus passengers or the van driver reported harmed.
Police say they are investigating and as yet have made no arrests.
Operator Bravo Bus has been approached for comment.
In 2020, 173 bus drivers and 1,103 passengers were injured or killed in bus crashes, with 95% of deaths and serious injuries suffered by passengers.
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Categories: Law and Enforcement, On the Roads
The crash reportedly occurred with the van’s rear deck opened, thus inserting right into the cab space of the bus and thus killing the driver. It’s obviously unsafe to leave the rear deck open after vehicle stalled in the middle of highway, with another bus driver killed in similar way some months ago near Western Harbor Crossing Tunnel’s entrance, but reportedly those people on the van were trying to take out warning cones/signs from the storage space and the bus crashed into the van just a minute after the vam stopped so there were not enough time to finish the procedure
* Mean the one from 2019 March