Perhaps we might think or pray or reflect on the deaths of some old folk just looking forward to good day out. If it had happened to our commune it would have taken 10% of our village.
Speed limits on difficult départmentales are stupidly high leaving little margin for error.
Really bad news, glad I'm retired, is there a way to make a donation? It's all to do with the families now, not forgetting the teams involved in the aftermath and the identification of the victims.....not good.
We may never know the truth Shirley but driver error or road conditions or whatever may be the cause. The coach driver has already been interviewed I believe so maybe the police are waiting to break the news ?
Whatever the truth is what happened was a tragedy which we need to learn from so anything similar can be avoided in the future..
Was told locally there is law banning children from travelling in lorry cabs here, as in UK. Also for UK, For cars unless baby is in car sea in front, law was brought in few years ago children under 10 not allowed to sit in front seat. They sit on booster seats in rear so seat belt goes round them.
also if bends on mountain uphill mountain road, not quite so easy to widen. Looking at aerial view lorry on wrong side, to take bends? if coach doing same, which doesn't seem to be the , still lorry driver at fault.
I heard on the news that it was a haulier from, I think, Normandie, a family haulage company of several generations and that the driver had taken advantage of the holidays to spend a bit of time with his young son by taking him along. I also heard a statement from another person involved in an accident with a lorry at this same spot.
What strikes me is that even when roads are known to be dangerous the local authority response is that the drivers should slow down, and there is often a refusal to make the road safer eg by replacing the slippery surface on a bend with a different material etc. in terms of road safety here how I would love to see cats eyes, a word like SLOW marked on the road, or even longer lasting reflective white lines painted to divide the road.
My thoughts are with all the families involved. How often have we taken coach trips from our local commune, and what a responsibility coach drivers have.
Most cabs have beds behind. Do we know if the child was in a car seat ? There was a photo of them together in a cab with the little boy on his dads lap at the wheel, not at this accident site obviously but taken as a family shot. A child of three can be a distraction.
The child can't do other than sit in the front. Tractor cabs don't have back seats. What puzzles me is how such a serious fire could occur and spread so rapidly. Diesel isn't the most volatile fuel. Maybe Bruce who i think is an ex- pompier could offer some explanation.
I agree Véronique. Big adventure to be with Papa in his big camion. Sadly it proved a big adventure too far. Too easy to blame the camioniste although I have a particular dread of log lorries which pressed for delivery times seem to be driven by maniacs. In this case the truck was empty and the driver no doubt ,in my mind, just looking forward to the drive home with his nipper. The fault is with the road system for the most part. Let's hope the tachograph was electronic and survived the crash on both vehicles.
There can be a big difference in a child being in a lorry rather than a car seat. I held my HGV for about 35 years in the UK and France and even though I didn't work as a regular HGV driver I can tell you the difficulties of driving a 44 tonner on winding country roads can be totally different to a saloon car. If a young child is distracting as they can be just a minimal loss of concentration can be catastrophic.
We will probably never know if the child was a distraction but I still fail to understand how such a young child should be allowed to travel in a lorry cab.
The child was with his father, in the father's vehicle - it is the school holidays right now & a child that age is normally in maternelle so at home and needing to be looked after. If one parent works, going with the other parent in the lorry doesn't seem like a silly idea, I expect most 3 year olds think it is marvellous. Judging by a picture I saw, the driver often took the child in a children's carseat in the lorry. I'm afraid I don't see much difference between a lorry and any other motor vehicle.
There was no reason for the child to be in that cab. I'm amazed children are allowed anywhere near a lorry cab.
Unfortunately it is quite frequent for lorry drivers to have children with them during the school holidays, and, yes, just as in the good old days, they sit in front.
I don't think the child was a distractor, the way I understood the accident, the lorry driver probably wasn't anticipating a coach that early in the morning, and the coach driver certainly wasn't prepared for a lorry. It seems like a horrible case of wrong time and wrong place. Fortunately the driver didn't lose his head and a few people could escape.
My heart goes out to the survivors and the families of the victims.
It was a log carrying lorry, Shirley - nowhere but the cab to put a child and in any case if that is your vehicle and the child is in a carseat then there's no reason why a parent shouldn't drive their own child around in it.
Horrible, horrible accident.
Bruce you say this every time someone mentions God - if you were faith believer, you would not say it. It is not the Fault of God - I was taught he gave man FREE WILL. No Christian has ever claimed God stops people making stupid mistakes or doing the things they do, to best of my belief.
The news already said that it was a foreign Lorry. I say driver was in all likelihood distracted by his 3yr old in the cab. That was not Gods fault - it will have been the drivers fault, for not paying attention to the road warning signs especiall if on a new unknown route to him.
So yes, I have and will pray for all those lost souls. You haven’t upset me by your comment, I just don’t understand why you even felt you needed to write it! I don’t deny you your atheism or agnosticism if that is what you are as you should not deny or decry us with our beliefs and prayers.
Please don’t despair, just think of those poor lost souls in the best way you can.
yes I was quite sad to see that on the French and UK tv news yesterday and so sorry for the families and commune it will affect, for the tragic loss of life. Especially having seen on TV the road where it happened, via a video taken at another time of the route both vehicles were traveling on.
I feel for the mother of the 3 year old child - but what was the Larry driver doing having his 3yr old son sitting in the front of the cab with him? Any child of that age can be a distraction, as we all know - but sitting up front in a Lorry, that is irresponsible and terrible and I hope all Lorry companies wherever in Europe, expressly forbid drivers to have children in their cabs. Or perhaps The EU Parliament/Commision will make it a law!
Either sign the condolence book at your Mairie or send your own personal message via www.sudouest.fr That will ensure your messages get to the commune. It is absolutely tragic, for a commune to lose so many of their inhabitants, for their families and friends, and for France. On Tele Matin this morning the reporter spoke to someone who had lost his three sisters. Difficult to imagine. So sad.
Pray,,,David....pray! If there was a god, where was he when these poor people were killed? Sorry, but whenever I hear of something like this and people talk about praying, I despair! I better not say anymore in case I upset people, but folk, just have a longer think on what I've just said.
Really tragic. I know the village and we have driven through there often.
Yes, tragic indeed. My thoughts are with the families and friends of these poor people. A very sad day indeed.
I join you, David, thinking about these poor souls who had their lives violently cut short. And for their families who have lost their parents, in many cases I presume, both. I feel sad.
A tragedy.