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The driver of a bus that crashed and killed an 11-year-old girl admitted to falsifying information and changing her driving story.
Hannah Teresa Francis. Source: Supplied
Hannah Francis died in July 2018 and 18 other people were injured, after the brakes on a skifield bus operated by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts failed.
He hurtled down the unbraked mountain road at around 70 km / h, crashed into a bank and rolled onto his side during his descent from the Tūroa ski field.
The driver, who cannot be identified, was questioned on the second day of the investigation into Francis’s death in Auckland.
The way he used the bus’s brakes came under intense scrutiny. The driver has said that the brakes were working at the start of the trip and then suddenly failed, for no obvious reason.
A lawyer for the vehicle inspection company VTNZ, Alastair Darroch, asked him about the possible explanation for the brake failure.
“One of the situations in which brake fade can occur is when going down a long, steep hill. Do you agree that you may have used the brakes excessively?”
“No,” was the driver’s reply.
Darroch presented evidence that several people smelled burned brakes before the accident. This included an on-board mechanic and a man who was following directly behind the bus in a car.
“Several others [bus] the passengers had also noticed the smell of brakes. I’ll tell you again: do you accept that you may have used your brakes excessively when lowering? ”Said Darroch. The driver replied again: “No.”
Crown attorney David Boldt suggested the driver was using too high a gear for a long, steep descent.
Boldt said the driver had a heavy and full bus, and being in high gear meant he was relying on his foot brakes to slow the bus, causing them to fail.
The driver initially told police that he was in third gear at a certain point on the road, which was a higher gear than recommended. But during the investigation he said he was in second grade, which would have been appropriate.
He rejected suggestions that he had changed his story for his own benefit.
“Why did you tell the detective that you were in third [gear] if it wasn’t, “Boldt said.” I can’t remember, “said the driver.
“You think maybe you told him you were third in the hairpin because you were third in the hairpin?”
The driver described his 15 years of experience driving buses, including in mountainous conditions, and working the previous winter in Ruapehu. He said he had driven on Ōhakune Mountain Road about 500 times in the last two winter seasons.
He had completed the training at Ruapehu in 2017, but in 2018, the year of the accident, he had to take a refresher course, but had not yet done so.
Police attorney Chris Wilkinson-Smith questioned the driver about paperwork he had signed in 2018 that said he had completed all training competitions, when in fact he had not.
“So this two-page document is all a lie, isn’t it?” Wilkinson-Smith said. “Correct” replied the driver.
“And did you make that fake document the day before the accident?” “Yes,” said the driver.
Boldt pressed the issue, questioning whether the man could be trusted to be honest about his actions.
“You admitted that you had lied to the police, but are you asking His Honor to accept that you are not lying to this court to protect yourself?”
“Tell him the truth. That is the truth,” said the driver.
The driver maintains that he was in the correct gear, without abusing the brakes, and they failed out of nowhere.
The investigation by Coroner Brigitte Windley continues on its third day on Thursday.
