Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article ,
(Ian Jelf) wrote:

From BBC News:

Http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4709972.stm

Six people were hurt when the roof of a double decker bus was torn
off as it crashed into a tree in north London.

Witnesses initially reported an explosion on the number 349 in
Tottenham High Road at 1244 GMT.

But police found the bus had hit a tree. No-one was killed but six
people have been injured, none seriously.

Police and firefighters were at the scene on Monday and the bus
driver was taken to hospital, thought to be suffering from shock.

The road was closed while the scene was investigated.

A police spokesman said: "The bus has hit a tree and the top of the
bus has come off.

"Police believe that this made a loud noise causing witnesses to
believe the roof came off as a result of an explosion."

Transport for London has launched an investigation into the crash.

If precedent is anything to go by, another tree will now be
summarily executed because a bus driver can't look where he is
going. Remember what happened on Millbank.

That's a bit harsh. The offending bit of tree trunk is 14 feet above
the road, not in the driver's normal field of vision. I find it
ludicrous that we allow double-decker buses to drive along roads that
don't have the necessary headroom for them across the width of the
carriageway. Not only that, there is no clear indication on the road
surface of how far from the kerb they need to be to obtain a safe
clearance, and if some sort of warning is posted, it's a non-standard
sign on the tree itself, not in advance of it. At night, there is no
special illumination of either the sign or the offending part of the
tree. Sounds to me like an accident waiting to happen, which
unfortunately has happened, *again*.

Does anyone know if the bus had one of those "protective" railings on
the top-right corner? Pretty damned useless if it did.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)