The Kempsey bus crash occurred in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 22 December 1989 when two full Denning Landseer tourist coaches, each travelling at 100 km/h, collided head-on on the Pacific Highway at Clybucca Flat, north of

Kempsey, New South Wales Kempsey is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia and is the council seat for Kempsey Shire. It is located roughly 16.5 kilometres inland from the coast of the Pacific Ocean, on the Macleay Valley Way near where the P ...

. 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 Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-bound coach, operated by

McCafferty's Coaches McCafferty's Coaches was an Australian family run interstate coach operator from 1940 to 2004. In October 2004 the McCafferty family sold its shares and its operations were rebranded as part of Greyhound Australia History McCafferty's Coaches w ...

, embedded in the front five rows of the cabin of the

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

-bound coach, operated by Trans City Express. The accident triggered a major emergency response as

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

State Emergency Service The State Emergency Service (SES) is the name used by a number of organisations in Australia that provide assistance during and after major incidents. Specifically, the service deals with floods, storms and tsunamis, but can also assist in oth ...

and volunteer rescuers, firefighters and paramedics attended the accident. A fleet of

air ambulance Air medical services is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transportation, aeroplane or helicopter, to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and cri ...

s and helicopters carried the injured to hospitals at Kempsey, Port Macquarie,

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

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 The Grafton bus crash killed 21 people and injured 22 on the Pacific Highway on the North Coast of New South Wales near Grafton. This crash was one of several on the Pacific Highway involving buses during a relatively brief period. At the time, ...

two months earlier, that the Pacific Highway be upgraded to

dual carriageway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

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 Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

and the Queensland border was dual carriageway (either at freeway or arterial road standards), with 240 kilometres of single carriageway remaining to be upgraded. The final section was completed in December 2020, bringing an end to the project after 24 years. The coroner also recommended research into coach seats, seat anchorages and seatbelts. Better emergency exits for coaches were also recommended, as rescuers were hindered in their initial efforts to enter the wreckage by the positioning of the exits 2.4m from the ground. Following the collision and despite the extensive damage incurred, both coaches were rebuilt by Denning, being completed in June 1990 and allocated body numbers 1378 (Trans City Express – original body 1238) and 1379 (McCafferty's – original body 1335). After the demise of Trans City Express in March 1992, much of its fleet was sold off and McCafferty's was among the purchasers, buying three coaches including the one involved in the accident. Both of the rebuilt coaches remained in service with McCafferty's for more than a decade. The McCafferty's coach from the Kempsey crash was involved in another accident exactly 14 years later, in the early hours of 22 December 2003. On this occasion the coach was travelling south towards

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

on the Bruce Highway when it was involved in a head-on collision with a truck. On this occasion there were no fatalities, with six people suffering minor injuries. However, the coach was damaged beyond economic repair and was written off. This accident and the

eight weeks earlier were described as "arguably Australia’s most catastrophic examples of high consequence/low probability incidents in the bus industry" in a bus safety discussion document. The section of the Pacific Highway where the collision occurred was bypassed in May 2016 by a dual carriageway as part of the upgrades recommended by the coronerDeadly stretch of Pacific Highway to be bypassed today, 27 years after bus crash
'' ABC News'' 16 May 2016 and is now named

Macleay Valley Way The Macleay Valley Way is a road in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales that connects the Pacific Highway to and . It runs along a former section of the Pacific Highway that was bypassed by a newer alignment between 2013 and 2016. R ...

References

News video of accident

National Nine News – Nightline clip

Mention on Emergency Management Australia website

"Pacific Highway Upgrade"
– NSW Parliament mention in Hansard {{coord, 30.984416, S, 152.920374, E, display=title, scale:50000_region:AU_type:event 1989 in Australia Disasters in New South Wales Bus transport in New South Wales Bus incidents in Australia Road incidents in Australia 1989 road incidents 1980s in New South Wales December 1989 events in Australia 1989 disasters in Australia

See also

References