Safety of Volvo buses

In the recent accident involving a Volvo bus, as many as 30 passengers were charred to death. It seems (from reading various reports) that the passengers who were occupying the front seats managed to escape death; those passengers who fled to the back of the bus were trapped in what became a "burning coffin".

It was also mentioned later that the emergency exit of the bus was jammed and therefore the people were trapped. (This jamming of the locking system had also happened earlier in the July 2005 deluge when some people died due to suffocation in their cars).

Volvo claims to have a high safety record and I was told by some people in the US of A that Volvo cars also get a better insurance rate there because the cars are very safe. When Volvo entered the Indian market, they also claimed that all the other Indian "buses" were in fact "trucks". Their contention was that the Indian "buses" were built on the same chasis as that meant for the trucks. So, the comfort level would be higher in a Volvo (which claimed to have a different chasis for the buses than the trucks).

Having experienced a Volvo ride myself, I thought the journey was quite comfortable. It also seemed to me that even the driver comfort had been thought of. The panels (dashboard) seemed to be designed quite well, the driver seemed to enjoy the power steering. The height and position of the driver seat seemed to offer the guy quite a nice view of the road. The driver also had the pleasure of enjoying driving in air-condioned comfort. The seats for the assistant ("cleaner") were thoughtfully foldable.

The Volvo bus is a rear-engine vehicle (probably to reduce the noise inside the bus). But, maybe that's the problem too. Indians are mostly accustomed to finding the emergency exit at the back of the bus. Since Volvo buses have rear-engines, I guess that's the reason they do not have an emergency exit at the back of the bus. Yes, that's true. Take a look at a Volvo bus the next time and compare it to a BEST bus.

I do not know if the Volvo bus has any emergency exit. The emergency exit does not seem to be located at the "usual" place. Maybe that's why the people got trapped - they thought the bus had to have an exit at the back. Maybe its time to do what is done in an aircraft flight - tell people about the various emergency exits at the start of the journey.