Serious bus accident outside of PV with people from lakeside on a Viaje Bus

A busload of lakeside resdents were returning from a trip to the beach when the bus they were riding on lost its brakes on a hill and overturned. Most people have been returned home with bumps and bruses but 4 are still hospitalized in PV, one in intensive care.
The bus came around a curve and then as it headed down the hill the driver saw stopped traffic at the bottom so applied his brakes. They did not work. He saw a soft area on the side of the road so he headed on to it which caused an abrupt stop. The bus was at an angle and tipped over.
Ambulances arrived at the scene in 10 minutes. Some were taken to the hospital and those who were not very much hurt waited for another bus to come to take them back to PV. They were later bussed home.
Those involved praised the actions of the bus driver and the prompt response from the medical services.

Very scary. This was on chapala.com. Doesn't say much for the so called good buses in Mexico. Hafta wonder how often they're inspected.

One good thing is that everyone is alive . Hope the people who are in the hospital can get out soon. Broken bones are very painful but hopefully everyone will pull out.
Must have been pretty scary for everyone.I use buses a lot and losing breaks is one of my fear especially on hills. It could have been a whole lot worst, thank God many people are home and safe.

By the way John you are a real sad case, a bus loses its break and you have to blame the whole country.
Breaks can and do break this is why they have these red lines on the road, with a priority sign that says "priority to vehicules without breaks"...no kidding...

Here's hoping everyone gets home safe and sound. Kudos to the driver...there aren't many places to make any kind of stop on that highway, let alone a drastic emergency stop. It could have been so much worse.

4 in the hispital and an older gentleman in intensive care with broken ribs and a punctured lung. Took the replacement bus 3 hours to get there, then another 3 hours to Ajijic.

Just wondering....will the bus company pay for the medical bills for those injured or are they on their own? Just curious since it was the failure of the brakes.

joec wrote:Very scary. This was on chapala.com. Doesn't say much for the so called good buses in Mexico. Hafta wonder how often they're inspected.

As often maybe as these are:

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19910801&slug=1297592

http://www.dashcamaccidents.com/bus-loses-brakes-crashes-into-house/

http://sfappeal.com/alley/2010/03/tour-bun-loses-brakes-almost-buys-it-on-california-street.php

So you really need to stop with all of your incessant, ignorant and uncalled for Mexico bashing.

Or we'll start talking where you might find your cane one of these days.

joec wrote:Very scary. This was on chapala.com. Doesn't say much for the so called good buses in Mexico. Hafta wonder how often they're inspected.

Sounds like a private tour ... and private buses have less reason to check the mechanics of the bus and to hire professional drivers

Sparks, you can't fault the driver in any way.

sparks wrote:

joec wrote:Very scary. This was on chapala.com. Doesn't say much for the so called good buses in Mexico. Hafta wonder how often they're inspected.

Sounds like a private tour ... and private buses have less reason to check the mechanics of the bus and to hire professional drivers

Why do you say that? Don't they think enough of their reputation and the safety of their passengers or maybe they don't?? Seems to me all vehicles need regular inspections.

Even vehicles that are regularly inspected can have a mechanical failure.Sounds like the driver did the right thing here given the circumstances.

Were they on a cuota?

It was a Viajes Ajijic bus. "In God we Trust" motto.
"Trust, but verify"......as in when were those brakes last inspected?

espíritu del lago wrote:Were they on a cuota?

They could not have been on a cuota only one hour out of PV. They were on the jungle road with twists and turns, an extremely dangerous road.

joyfull - No one is going to pay their medical bills. This is Mexico, not the US and you can't sue them for it, so they're probably SOL.

gringal wrote:It was a Viajes Ajijic bus. "In God we Trust" motto.
"Trust, but verify"......as in when were those brakes last inspected?

Viajes Ajijic uses ETN Gran Turismo luxury buses. We've been on them about 7 times to PV in November.

joec wrote:

gringal wrote:It was a Viajes Ajijic bus. "In God we Trust" motto.
"Trust, but verify"......as in when were those brakes last inspected?

Viajes Ajijic uses ETN Gran Turismo luxury buses. We've been on them about 7 times to PV in November.

I don't care which buses they use. I want to know how recently the brakes on that bus were inspected. Back in the States, there were obligatory truck inspection stations with quick tire and brake inspections. I haven't seen one around here as yet. Brakes seem to be a noticeable problem here.......as in the number of failed brakes at the Libramento intersection in recent memory.

Now I'm also curious about tours....is there any kind of insurance protection for the passengers in a situation like the above? Or is it t.s. when the bus goes over the edge?

Joyfull if you look at Chapala.com someone who actually was on the bus said that the insurrnce company agent came on the bus and in the hospital with the passengers. We will find out if they will pay or not but my bet is tht they will.

A friend of mine was on an accident on a bus from the Cristobal Colon line (part of the ADO group) and paid for the hospital but a friend of his did not get checked and had serious back problems later and they did not pay. If you are in one of these accident you need to be checked rightaway or they may not pay later.

joec wrote:

espíritu del lago wrote:Were they on a cuota?

They could not have been on a cuota only one hour out of PV. They were on the jungle road with twists and turns, an extremely dangerous road.

joyfull - No one is going to pay their medical bills. This is Mexico, not the US and you can't sue them for it, so they're probably SOL.

Just more incredibly stupid information from this poster. And if that isn't bad enough he insults the country and its people. I'm asking the mods, does Mexico bashing have a limit?

seisdedos wrote:

joec wrote:

espíritu del lago wrote:Were they on a cuota?

They could not have been on a cuota only one hour out of PV. They were on the jungle road with twists and turns, an extremely dangerous road.

joyfull - No one is going to pay their medical bills. This is Mexico, not the US and you can't sue them for it, so they're probably SOL.

Just more incredibly stupid information from this poster. And if that isn't bad enough he insults the country and its people. I'm asking the mods, does Mexico bashing have a limit?

IF, and here is my question: Don't buses get a receipt from the toll booth and doesn't the stub say if on quota medical and damages will be paid? SO..... Anyone know?????

As far as I've heard, the answer re the quota is "yes". However, from the description of the accident, it sounds like they weren't on the quota.

gringal wrote:

joec wrote:

gringal wrote:It was a Viajes Ajijic bus. "In God we Trust" motto.
"Trust, but verify"......as in when were those brakes last inspected?

Viajes Ajijic uses ETN Gran Turismo luxury buses. We've been on them about 7 times to PV in November.

I don't care which buses they use. I want to know how recently the brakes on that bus were inspected. Back in the States, there were obligatory truck inspection stations with quick tire and brake inspections. I haven't seen one around here as yet. Brakes seem to be a noticeable problem here.......as in the number of failed brakes at the Libramento intersection in recent memory.

Now I'm also curious about tours....is there any kind of insurance protection for the passengers in a situation like the above? Or is it t.s. when the bus goes over the edge?

I use to hold a commercial truck license. Trust me brakes can fail on there own or because of operator abuse. I believe the Libramento accidents were
from unsafe speed or operator error not equipment failure. They started to slow down way to late for the intersection. I have found the bus drivers
down here to be a cut above the truck drivers down here. I have no knowledge of inspections and such but I think this situation is very different than
the Libramento intersection accidents. Time will tell the cause of the PV bus accident.

Z

gringal wrote:As far as I've heard, the answer re the quota is "yes". However, from the description of the accident, it sounds like they weren't on the quota.

Were they on mexican route 200 from PV to Tepic??? It is extremely curvy with small shoulders.

Z

New question:

When you have a wreck on the quota will medical and damages will be paid? SO..... Anyone know?????

Next question:
Has anyone here reading this question, been involved in a wreck on the quota?

Next:
Did you collect any monies?

The person who was on the bus stated the accident happened at "K125 near PV". I still can't determine exactly where that might be and I know those roads pretty well having lived in Sayulita.

There are only 3 ways (that I know of) that the buses could travel from PV to Guad. South down #200 - very unlikely, Up through Mascota etc - also very unlikely, or north up #200 thru La Peñita and Compestela and on to the cuota to Guad - the most likely route and the route I've always gone on any bus trip.

Since it takes that bus almost an hour to get to Sayulita going north on #200, and there really are no steep hills, I can't really decide where the accident could have happened. It's still fairly flat going north until you turn at Las Varas and head for Compestela and the cuota. That whole leg of the trip is very twisty-turny and does have some steep hills, and has been the site of many bus and car crashes. Maybe they were, understandably, mistaken about the time frame.

We damaged our car on a quota in Vera Cruz State, the accident was due to a piece of metal on the road and the damage was paid by CAPUFE. I doubt that they would pay for a break failure which has nothing to do with the maintenance of the road.

We did not "collect any monies", the agent from CAPUFE came gave us the choices of a couple of garages where to fix the car and paid the garage directly. They also had the car fixed before we got on our way. It took us many hours but everything was taken care of for us.