Neville Herbert FLEGG 

IN BRIEF

Information on bus crash

NSW police are looking for a motorist who they believe may have crucial information about last December’s bus tragedy at Kempsey.

Thirty-five people were killed when two coaches collided on the Pacific Highway at about 3.30am on December 22.( 1989 )

Sergeant Neville Flegg, of the Accident Investigation Squad at Newcastle, said police were anxious to speak to a man who was seen driving a small green Datsun panel van south along the Pacific Highway in the Clybucca area about the time of the crash.

Any information regarding the driver can be telephoned to the squad at Newcastle on (049) 290744.

Second bus driver ‘ had taken drug ‘

SYDNEY: A driver involved in Australia’s worst bus crash, near Kempsey in December, had taken the drug ephedrine several hours before a head-on collision with another bus, an inquest into the smash heard yesterday.

Chief investigating officer Sergeant Neville Flegg told Glebe Coroner’s Court that McCafferty’s Coach Operator’s driver Russell Wirth had been found to have a low stimulant level in his blood – not enough to impair his driving.

Mr Wirth was killed in the accident.

However, Sergeant Flegg said, the drug’s presence and evidence that the McCafferty’s bus headlights were on high beam suggested ” a lack of control and / or concentration by Mr Wirth “.

NSW Coroner Kevin Waller has heard that the McCafferty’s bus crossed the centre line of the Pacific Highway as it travelled south at Clybucca Flats, north of Kempsey, before dawn on December 22.

Then it ploughed into a Trans City bus headed for Brisbane, killing 35 people.

Sergeant Flegg said the driver of the Trans City bus ” would have had about 1½ seconds to react and take evasive action “.

He was giving evidence on the first day of the inquest into the smash.

Coach on wrong side, say police

KEMPSEY: NSW police have revised the death toll from Friday’s head-on bus smash on the Pacific Highway from 36 to 35.

A police spokeswoman said difficulty in identifying the dead had led to the confusion.

Incomplete passenger lists had further complicated efforts to account for those aboard the two buses, which collided along the Pacific Highway, 14km north of Kempsey about 3.30am on Friday.

Police were unable to locate the drivers’ manifests which would have provided the most accurate list of passengers, the spokeswoman said.

She said the death toll stands at 35 and 41 people were injured.

Police were investigating yesterday why one of the buses crossed to the wrong side of the road into the path of the other.

Accident Investigation Unit head Sergeant Neville Flegg said, ” There is no doubt that the south-bound coach [McCafferty’s] was on the wrong side of the road. What we are trying to determine is why. ”

Sergeant Flegg said police had interviewed the relief driver of the north bound TransCity coach but the man was unable to provide much information because he was ” dozing ” at the time of the crash.

Today, accident investigation officers are hoping to interview a pedestrian, now in Sydney, who reported a near miss between a coach and another vehicle.

They also are trying to trace three interstate drivers who reported other near misses on the highway before the crash.

The coaches involved in the near misses could not be positively identified with either of the two buses which crashed, Sergeant Flegg said.

Sergeant Flegg said passengers told police both buses were travelling at ” normal ” speeds, but he did not rule out excessive speed as a contributing factor.

Investigators at this stage did not believe mechanical failure played a part, but routine examinations were being made.

Meanwhile, families of the dead have begun the grim task of identifying their relatives in a Sydney morgue after the bodies, many mangled beyond recognition, arrived aboard a refrigerated truck..

NSW Coroner Kevin Waller has ordered police not to release the names of the dead until Wednesday.

Kempsey Hospital’s acting chief executive officer, Michael Doyle, said 10 patients remained in the hospital, with the critically injured having been flown to major centres on Friday. Most of the victims suffered chest and head injuries.

Debriefing sessions were being held over the Christmas weekend for the emergency workers who spent up to 10 hours removing dead bodies and wounded.

The local community will pay tribute to those who lost their lives in a memorial service at All Saints Anglican Church, Kempsey, at 12.30pm on Wednesday.

Brisbane journalists John and Robyn Harris and their 15-year-old son Nicky were among the 35 people killed.

Forty-eight year-old Mr Harris was an arts critic for The Sun newspaper and his wife, 51, was a casual journalist on The Sunday Sun.

Mr Harris’s last film review, on The Delinquents, appeared on Friday in the same issue which carried the front page story of the head-on collision between two buses near Kempsey.

Colleagues did not realise they were among the victims until the news was broken by his family yesterday.

A spokesman said the couple and their son were on the way to Newcastle for Christmas.

Meanwhile, the federal Opposition land transport and shipping spokesman, John Sharp, said a Coalition government would reform and partially privatise Australia’s rail system to relieve pressure on the road system,

“These measures will enable the Coalition to deal with the deterioration of the road system which has been underlined by a series of tragic accidents…,” he said in a statement

He said the Coalition wanted private enterprise to play a greater role in the railways. _

“Not only will the costs of maintaining the road system be reduced, but lives will be saved,” he said.

“Similar proposals have been success fully.developed in EC countries and will allow a greater degree of genuine competition, leading to a better and more reliable service which would be less costly.”