Report on head-on collision between two buses on the Rv 110 road in Fredrikstad on 28 December 2022

Photo: NSIA

On the morning of 28 December 2022, two identical buses from Vy Buss AS had a head-on collision on national highway 110 at the Fredrikstad bridge. The buses were of type M3 class 1 MAN Lion's city low entry 2013 model. One bus was empty with no passengers and the other bus had two passengers. Despite the fact that the buses collided at low speed, the accident resulted in one driver being killed and one driver being critically injured. The two passengers in the one bus obtained minor injuries.

The investigation has shown that Bus 5 came from the right lane in the northbound direction into the middle lane and then into the opposite lane in the southbound direction. Bus 5 collided head-on with its left front against the left corner of Bus 113. The collision speed of Bus 5 was approx. 32 km/h and the collision speed of Bus 113 was approx. 35 km/h.

Overall, it is the NSIA's assessment that at some point during the last seconds before the collision, for an unknown reason, the driver of Bus 5 was unable to actively drive the bus, and that this led to a collision with the oncoming bus. The NSIA has investigated, but failed to establish an explanation as to whether something happened to the condition of the driver of Bus 5 in the last 9–10 seconds before the collision.

Both buses sustained extensive damage to the driver's area in the collision. The design with a lack of impact-resistant construction on the buses' left front represents a general technical challenge for several bus manufacturers. This is critical for the safety of bus drivers in frontal collisions between buses with little overlap. Similar challenges in bus constructions were also visible in the accidents in Nafstad (2017) and Tangen (2021). The NSIA believes that bus drivers as employees should be better protected.

New Norwegian requirements for head-on collision protection in new buses entered into force on 1 October 2023 through the Regulations relating to universal design of motor vehicles used for licensed transport etc. The requirement means that a metal plate weighing 1,500 kg attached to a pendular arm, strikes the front of a bus at around 30 km/h. The investigation, however, has shown that the left-hand corner of buses has weaknesses in head-on collisions that occur with a small overlap, and that the weaknesses are not necessarily uncovered in a frontal impact test based on a flat impact against the front of the bus.

In light of the safety recommendation already issued by the NSIA in connection with two previous investigations and the ongoing work relating to the crashworthiness of buses under the auspices of the bus sector, the Ministry of Transport and the NPRA, the NSIA will not issue further safety recommendations in connection with this specific investigation. 

However, head-on collisions where a bus is one of the involved vehicles account for 2–3 per cent of all road traffic fatalities. The NSIA therefore believes that more knowledge is needed about the overall challenges relating to the crashworthiness of buses, and what impact this can have on other groups of road users in head-on collisions. The NSIA will therefore conduct further investigations into the crashworthiness of buses.

Published 14.12.2023