Kempsey bus crash
| Kempsey bus crash | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Date | 22 December 1989 |
| Time | 2:40 am |
| Location | Clybucca Flat 12 km (7.5 mi) from Kempsey, New South Wales |
| Country | Australia |
| Type of incident | Collision |
| Statistics | |
| Deaths | 35 |
| Injuries | 41 |
The Kempsey bus crash occurred in Australia on 22 December 1989 when two full Denning Landseer tourist coaches, each travelling at 100km/h, collided head-on on the Pacific Highway at Clybucca Flat, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north of Kempsey, New South Wales. It remains the worst road accident in Australia; 35 people died, including both drivers, and another 41 were injured.
The impact snapped seats from their anchor bolts. Seats and passengers were thrown forward in the vehicles with a terrific amount of force, which also trapped people and their luggage against the fronts of the buses. The force of the impact left the Sydney-bound coach, operated by McCafferty's Coaches, embedded in the front five rows of the cabin of the Brisbane-bound coach, operated by Trans City Express. The accident triggered a major emergency response as police, State Emergency Service and volunteer rescuers, firefighters and paramedics attended the accident.
A fleet of air ambulances and helicopters carried the injured to hospitals at Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Sydney. A New South Wales Coroner's inquiry into the collision found that the driver of the McCafferty's coach fell asleep at the wheel. This caused his vehicle to travel straight on through a left-hand curve on the highway and collide with the Trans City Express coach. There was no indication that the driver had applied his brakes or dimmed the headlights, the coroner found. Neither coach was speeding at the time of the crash, and no mechanical faults were found in either vehicle.
The coroner (Kevin Waller) endorsed the recommendation he made following the Grafton bus crash two months earlier, that the Pacific Highway be upgraded to dual carriageway between Newcastle and the Queensland border. The New South Wales and Commonwealth governments committed to carry out the required work, with an initial promised completion date of 2006. This target never came close to being met; at July 2008, only 267 kilometres (or 39%) of the route had been upgraded to dual carriageway standard, with 87 kilometres of divided road under construction and 325 kilometres of the highway still a single carriageway. As of May 2016, following a sustained upgrade program, 437 kilometres (65%) of the highway between Hexham and the Queensland border was dual carriageway (either at freeway or arterial road standards), with 240 kilometres of single carriageway remaining to be upgraded.
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