Talk:Gillingham bus disaster

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Im finding it hard to picture how this occurred, did the driver of the bus mow down the column of cadets in an enfilading manner? How could he possibly claim not to know what was happening, and who in their right mind would not mandate buses(any motor vehicle) to have their headlights on at night??? that's moronic even for 1950's Britain. Anon 003 16:24, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

I suspect you'll find the lack of headlights was common in other countries too. Things we take for granted today weren't taken for granted fifty years ago - after all, we don't show lights when we walk and the majority of cyclists still don't show lights (even though it's now illegal not to), so why should we show them when we drive? That would have been the argument anyway. I don't think it's difficult to picture what happened - the column was only fifteen yards long and as the bus driver didn't see them (not that difficult to accept on a very dark night with no street lights and no headlights, I wouldn't have thought) it wouldn't have taken him long to mow down the entire column. -- Necrothesp 16:42, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

Using headlights in areas with streetlighting wasn't common until the 1970s; there was a theory that if the road was already lit, headlights didn't help you to see better but merely dazzled oncoming road users. And they were marching down the middle of the road at night with no high-vis jackets or lights, allegedly in fog - equally "moronic" by modern standards.86.27.171.145 (talk) 13:27, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Absolutely. When the current laws requiring lights to be shown after dark at all times were introduced in the mid-1970s there were actually demonstrations by London cabbies, who claimed that using headlights in well-lit London streets would be dangerous and drivers would be dazzled. The Transport and General Workers' Union, which represented commercial drivers (including bus drivers and cabbies), complained to the government about the new law. Now we would be shocked if a car wasn't showing lights (and the driver would soon be stopped by the police), but even less than forty years ago it was considered to be a weird idea. It's never a good idea to judge the past by modern standards, practices or beliefs. -- Necrothesp (talk) 21:08, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

Location

I've placed coordinates in the {{coord}} tag that puts the article on Dock Road, but hopefully a local can refine them to point to the actual site of the crash, apparently it's marked by a plaque on the dockside wall.86.27.171.145 (talk) 13:27, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

The current coordinates are very close to the location. The plaque on the dockside wall is further down & on the other side of the road, so I would suggest leaving the coordinates as they are.

I do wonder about the use of the “Old news” & “More citations needed” tags, though. This is an old event & the contemporary coverage was sanitised because of the nature of the victims & the disaster fatigue after the Second World War. There may simply not be much more usable coverage to find, so I am not sure those tags are helpful. BiscuitsBeforeBias (talk) 16:20, 19 June 2026 (UTC)