Limpopo bus tragedy: Broken barriers | Carte Blanche | M-Net

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟯 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰.
In Molepolole, the largest village in Botswana, 44 identical graves lie side-by-side in the community cemetery. The burial site stands as a memorial for the scores of people killed in a horrific bus crash across the border in South Africa. Just days before the start of the Easter celebrations, busloads of worshippers travelled from across Southern Africa to Moria in Limpopo for the annual ZCC pilgrimage. But these Batswana pilgrims and their bus driver never made it to the sacred place of worship. Instead, the speeding bus plunged over the bridge on the Mmamatlakala Pass. There was just one survivor – an eight-year-old girl who escaped with just minor injuries. But what really happened on the bridge? This dangerous hairpin bend on the R518 has become notorious for serious accidents and, while the authorities have suggested speeding as the primary cause of the crash, could something else have contributed to the tragic outcome? Now, Carte Blanche examines the state of the barriers before the accident on Maundy Thursday.

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#carteblanche #southafrica #news #limpopo #bus #crash #accident #botswana #investigation #mnet #dstv

[carteblanchetv]

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[yanniw]

Ok. I've been driving heavy trucks for 20 years. You can ask any experienced long distance truck driver and they all gonna tell you the same thing. The accident started 3km up the road in the beginning of the pass. The driver didn't slow down early. When he realized that the downhill was long, he used his brakes too much. Heavy vehicles are not like cars. Brakes overheats very quickly on downhills and when they do you have no brakes. That's why trucks move very slowly down mountain passes. Once you start running there is nothing that can stop you. Also heavy vehicles have more than one braking systems. Brakes, exhaust brakes, and retarder. So to make a long story short, the concrete barrier couldn't have save them unless it was 2m high. The only thing that could slow down the bus in that situation was the retarder. It is a very powerful hydraulic system that brakes the gearbox. Unfortunately retarders are very expensive, but they should be mandatory.

[onlyeverydaysa]

Him having the guts to say it wasn't urgent. 🤦🏾‍♀️💔 South Africa is really becoming a joke.

[zamubuntukani]

My conclusion is, in Africa maintenance left the group😕

[SmilingCrescentMoon-iopx]

I'm just amazed that even to this day the barrier of the bridge still hasnt been fixed after so many accidents and deaths in the last 3 years

[montenell]

I know that bridge very well in my trucking days and my travels to my friend in Ellisras. This is not the first accident with loss of life. There were many before and lots of people died there. When you reach the top of the pass from the Marken side with a heavy truck or bus get your truck in 1'st gear low range and proceed as slow as possible until you cross the bridge. My personal opinion is that the cause of the accident was a lack of experience and poor driving from the driver of the bus. The barriers on the side of the bridge is irrelevant as you can pass the bridge safely if your vehicle is under control. and if you know the road. My condolences to the families who lost loved ones. Thank you Carte Blanche for this video.

[Kaveman.]

As a civil engineer, I would say that the possibility of snagging is a possibility but as tragic as the situation is, the SANRAL official is correct in saying the proclaimation that the cause of the bus going over the barrier was a result of snagging on exposed concrete reinforcement is speculative at best, whether or not a thorough civil engineering forensic analysis was not undertaken.
Any large enough object taller than the barrier will tumble over if it strikes the barrier at a sufficient speed and at a specific angle. By my rough estimations, the bus-trailer needs to collide with the concrete barrier at an actual speed of 14 - 30 km\h minimum. It doesn't take much

MATH LOGIC & REASONING:

Think about the weight of the objects at play here: a heavy vehicle (+- 45 seater touring bus) carrying 45 people (assuming 25% of them are children between 8 and 12) and say ten (arbitrary assumption) 47kg full gas tanks are a total of 21 772kg (heavy "luxury" type) + 2 400kg (assuming a childish 30kg on avg) + (80*10) = 24 972 kg. This is massive!

If we assume:
- the barrier is at a height of 1070mm (the minimum for 18-wheeler trucks)
- the center of mass (COM) of the bus and trailer is approximately halfway up the height of the bus (around 1.5 meters above the ground)
- the bus's impact with the barrier generates a horizontal force at the COM level
- the barrier is immovable and therefore acts as a pivot point.

We can only estimate, the collision angle depends on the geometry of the hairpin turn and the direction from which the bus approaches the concrete barrier.

Then using Kinetic Energy = Potential Energy we can roughly estimate the speed the bus would need to travel to tip over, but accounting for road surface friction (actual velocity = friction coeff.* speed estimate), and that when the bus strikes the barrier, it generates an angular momentum (1/3* m*L^2) around the the barrier. For the bus to tumble over the barrier, the angular momentum must be sufficient to overcome the gravitational torque (mgh) acting on it.

When I do the math, depending on friction coeff and bus mass (personal luggage is too much of an unknown to account for), I get estimates ranging from 14.4 to 27.36 km\h. If my logic was correct, the SANRAL official was being logical. The bus may have been speeding and if so those barriers were never going to save those poor people. Snaaging as causality is indeed speculative, the steel would need to jut out and would need to be jagged and pulled out of place, but the video footage does not show this. If it were so, I suspect Carte Blanche would have seen this and included the footage.

[IP_FORFUN]

No one is saying the driver is a saint, but if the bridge was well maintained it would've have contained the bus within the road.

[ValentineButale]

This SANRAL guy... too indifferent. People have lost loved ones and he's here talking about "not urgent."

[maropengrampyapedi]

Why is this guy head of sanral North region, how can he say that it's not urgent.

[terencemasilela]

That Sanral Regional Manager is Zimbabwean and is very incompetent, cheap labour on sanral side .we need qualified South African personal in key positions at all times. he says fixing road the was not urgent Gross incompetence😔😔😔

[mahlakoviolet]

Roads in limpopo are horrible especially the issue with Potholes without warning signs.

[tshepo]

This guy from SANRAL said it's not important to fix the bridge 💔.

[KaraboModishane]

How ironic is it that the SANRAL manager's name is Progress. But yet no progress has been in fixing the bridge

[wherestwenty]

Why is the Regional Manager a Zimbabwean ..that position should be occupied by a qualified SOUTH AFRICAN citizen..not a foreigner!

[isaacthom]

RIP to all who lost their lives, , , the first major cause of the accident is allowing a 28 year old to driver a bus especially to tht long distance.

[BoboMoerane]

My little knowledge of physics tells me that the professor didn't consider the hight of the bus in relation to the barriers. Maybe they must increase the hight of the barriers

[oagengscotch]

even today I still feel enormous pain for the lives lost here.. Hearing this man say its not urgent to fix the barriers is a shocker!!

[francoisdvanderwesthuizen]

I do agree that the barries shouldve kept the bus on the road but busses tend to have a high center of gravity and I guess the bus could've done maybe close to 100kph at the time of the crash, I believe it would've went over regardless if the barrier were brand new. In my opinion that barrier is way too low for the circumstances it is in. Yes, "Jersey" barriers do work and they come in different shapes and sizes so I think its the wrong shape and size for this bridge but then again one cannot just go and build a impenetrable stone wall on the bridge because bridges can only take that much static weight. My heart goes out to the families and their whole village for their loss.

[tebogot_]

It is so shameful how people where blaming the leader of the St. Engenas zcc church without investigating what might have caused the accident.
RIP to those who lost their lives.