Young Mitcham man killed by bus in Tooting (From Wimbledon Guardian)

So sad to hear of this young mans loss of life,
Having campaigned for changes to the design of buses since 12 year Olivia McKie was crushed to death at Amen Corner in March 2007, it is dreadful that my voice has been ignored by the 800 individuals within bus manufacturers, coach body builders, operators, transport authorities, safety advisors, Mp's and MEP's. all have walked on the other side of the road and not demanded changes that are feasable and inexpensive.

Cars and vans have been researched and laws introduced to reduce or mitigate pedestrian impacts
to prevnet death and serious injuries, much work has been done by all manufacturers and designers to achieve this in line with government guidelines to reduce deaths on our roads by 2020, but Buses and Coaches have been forgotten they have only been modified to make them easier to access for disabled passengers, softer rounded interiors to protect passengers, better protection for the driver and eco friendly engines for reduced emission levels. Nothing has been done to improve pedestrian safety.

In the UK there are about 60 deaths per annum from pedestrian collisions with buses, globally many thousands, this may seem a trivial amount but when you realise there are 180,000 in service these statistics are twice as high as for cars where there are 26 million on our roads and there are 3500 deaths per year if you are hit by a bus you are knocked to the ground because the flat front throws you forward, you are then run over, the low chassis and wide wheels will crush you, each bus weighs about 16 tonnes when full of passengers you will almost certainly be killed. This should not happen if protruding bumpers, soft fronts that deflect you towards the pavement, external airbags that prevent runover, radar to detect and avoid pedestrians by automatically breaking. How many more years do we have to hear of the horrific deaths suffered by these victims of poor design when a small amount of expense can ensure run over deaths never happen again.

Trevor Hutton

I agree absolutely - why on Earth do we let this death and injury continue blindly, when millions are squandered on overpaid and unproductive Government officials to come up with these appalling figures. When this money could eb spent on saving lives.

It is very said to hear that somebody got killed by a bus it should have not happened that way, but the design of the buses can not be blamed for someone's stupidity. I was on that bus that night and saw what happened. The man was not crossing the road! He jumped in front of the bus might thought it was so much fun to stop a packed bus on Sunday morning . He was actually smiling before he got hit. The bus tried to go around him to avoid hitting him but that man was keep on coming on the way of the bus on purpose and laughing.It is certainly not the driver’s fault or the design of the bus. I feel sorry for the driver and for all the people who saw that nasty accident.