Click photo to enlarge
Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit officers Warrick
Andrews (left) and Jeff Fleury inspect the Passenger
Transport bus involved in an accident on the Cardrona
skifield road. Photo by Matthew Haggart.
Crash investigators were busy yesterday inspecting the
air braking system on the Passenger Transport Ltd bus that
careered off the Cardrona skifield road on Saturday afternoon.
Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit officer Jeff Fleury, of
Dunedin, said he expected to finish an inspection of the
braking system and mechanical components of the 1986 Volvo
bus by last night.
"We're lucky everything is intact. It's usually fairly
straightforward to see where something has gone wrong once
the inspection is carried out," he said.
The crash endangered the lives of about 40 University of
Otago Selwyn College hostel students who were on a weekend
skiing trip.
The Otago Daily Times understands brake failure was not the
cause of the accident.
Eight people, including the driver, were taken by ambulance
to medical centres in Wanaka and Queenstown for treatment to
their injuries, described as moderate to minor.
Passenger Transport's Dunedin fleet maintenance manager,
Kayne Baas, has declined to speculate on the likely cause of
the Cardrona crash, but said he did not believe a mechanical
fault was to blame as the bus had recently been serviced.
Mr Fleury, a non-sworn police officer, said a vehicle crash
was typically the result of one of three causes.
"Every crash has three elements: A driver, a vehicle, and the
environment."
Driving conditions on the 14km descent of Cardrona skifield's
twisting, gravel road were fine, dry, and sunny at the time
of the accident.
Mechanical component inspections typically focused on braking
systems, which in this case was an air brake system.
The bus had an up-to-date certificate of fitness, he said.
Land Transport New Zealand officer Warrick Andrews, of
Invercargill, is helping Mr Fleury with the investigation.
His focus is on ensuring vehicles were appropriately
maintained before the incident.
Mr Fleury said he expected to be able to present a report to
Wanaka police in the next couple of days.
The CVIU might then decide to interview the driver, he said.
