Venizelosova crash: bus 37 driver describes collision
The driver of city bus line 37 says an Opel Corsa suddenly crossed into his lane. Firefighters cut the car open to free its driver, and police have not given a cause.
An Opel Corsa and a city bus on line 37 collided yesterday, October 15, on Venizelosova Street in Dorcol. The bus driver says the Opel suddenly crossed into his lane, and firefighters had to pull the car’s driver out of the wrecked vehicle. Police have not said what caused the crash.
What is known about the Venizelosova crash
The crash happened at about 11:45 a.m., though Blic gives the time as “around noon.” Bystanders called an ambulance and the police, and firefighters were then called in because the car’s driver was trapped. The Zvezdara rescue unit responded with six firefighter-rescuers and one vehicle.
The bus was traveling along Venizelosova from Francuska Street toward Dunav Station, and the Opel was coming from the opposite direction. Firefighters cut the car open to reach the driver, and an ambulance took him to hospital. Sources do not say whether any of the bus passengers were hurt.
What the bus driver says
The bus driver gave Informer his version of events and rejected any suggestion that he caused the crash:
I was driving bus number 37 along Venizelosova Street from the direction of Francuska Street toward Dunav Station, when the driver of the ‘Opel Corsa,’ who was coming from Dunav Station toward Francuska, suddenly crossed to the opposite side and hit the pole at high speed with his left side.
By his account, the Opel then bounced off the concrete pole and its rear struck the front of the bus. “Then it bounced off the pole and hit the front of the bus I was driving with its rear end,” the driver says. On speed, he said: “The driver of the ‘Opel Corsa’ was going at high speed, because the needle showed 100 kilometers per hour.”
That is solely the bus driver’s claim. Police have not confirmed the speed or said what the speedometer showed.
One of the bystanders at the scene described a somewhat different sequence. According to him, the car’s driver was heading toward the city center and probably wanted to park, so he crossed into the opposite lane. “He then hit the concrete pole, after which the bus ran into the vehicle,” the witness said. So he also describes a hit against the pole, but says the bus ran into the car, while the bus driver says the car hit the bus.
How long did it take to free the driver?
Sources disagree. Blic and Nova report that the car’s driver was pulled out after about 45 minutes, conscious. The bus driver speaks of 50 minutes, “and maybe an hour.”
He puts the Opel driver at around 50 years old and says he was conscious but badly hurt:
He was conscious, but in serious condition. I could see he was injured, especially that his legs were hurt
He knows nothing for certain about the cause. “I don’t know whether he felt unwell and why he swerved into my lane,” he said. He added that one car ahead of him managed to avoid the Opel.
What is still unknown
Police have not given a cause for the collision, nor the condition of the car’s driver. For now there are two different versions of the order of impacts, one from the bus driver and one from a witness. Until the circumstances are established, neither has been confirmed. The emergency response also caused heavy traffic jams in that part of the city.
