The anatomy of an accident

An accident can be described in many ways.....

The driver - who just have woken up from a few hours rest and started to drive the bus with 51 VING customers- sees the still standing traffic on Autobahn too late.

He tries to brake but the Antilock system ABS is out of order and the brakes are worn out so he steers the bus towards a concrete barrier. The concrete barrier does not move and crushes a large part of the bus chassi. The bus now rotates 3/4 on side, roof, side and stops hanging over a deep ditch on the side of the road. Passengers fly out through the windows which has exploded at the massive hit against the concrete pillar.

Another way of describing the accident is to show the tachometer which every bus is fitted with - something like the black box found on airplanes.

At the bottom is 0 km/h, at the top is the blue 100 km/hour mark.

As you see there is uneven traffic flow during morning rush hour. When we crash the inexperienced driver who drives the bus for the first time has just accelerated from 65 km/h to over 100 km/h.

Then he sees the still standing cars.

Yet another way is to describe with photographs. Here is the bus on the side and the rescue team is picking out the last of the wounded. When this picture is taken I'm flying ambulance-helicopter with thrashed spine, seven broken ribs, broken nose-bone and both lungs punctured.

Here I am today, three years later!

I am bound to a wheelchair, steel-bars instead of the lower part of my back, but it's wonderful to be alive!

From VING i have received a check for 4.000 SEK/ $500/ £300 and flowers sent to the hospital where I spent six months after the accident. The money I paid for the trip has also been returned to me, minus the insurance-fee, of course.

But surely it's strange that the bus did not have any brakes? And that the driver was totally inexperienced? Because, that's what VING promises, "With us you can feel safe! "