Historically, police have assumed responsibility for the investigation of traffic crashes. This responsibility has been fulfilled through training and, in some cases, the establishment of full time specialised investigative sections. The quality of the investigation is dependent on the available resources of the police service at the time of the incident. Recent years have seen a number of large passenger-carrying vehicles involved in serious and fatal traffic incidents. Such events severely tax the available resources of the investigating police. Generally, such incidents require an in-depth study of the factors which may have contributed to the crash. Within Queensland three such incidents, the Cairns school bus, Mt Tamborine tourist bus, and the recent Boondall bus crash have resulted in 31 deaths and over 100 passengers being seriously injured. It is vital that such incidents are investigated in depth so that all contributing factors are identified. This paper deals with the investigation of such incidents from the investigator's point of view and cover from the initial at-scene investigation through to the technical investigation. (A) For the record of the covering entry of this conference, please see IRRD abstract No. 868510.
Abstract