Night crossing of the mountain pass with 12 passengers
You are driving a 16-seat minibus (category D1) with 12 passengers from a fjord village to a town 130 km away, leaving at 17:40 in late November. At sea level it is -3 °C with sleet; the forecast gives snow above 400 m and gusts of 15-20 m/s on the pass. The bus has winter tyres with 4 mm tread, and the washer-fluid warning light has just come on. Your day started at 06:00 with an office shift, so you have been on duty for 11 hours when you reach the foot of the climb. Two passengers have a ferry connection at 20:35, and one of them, a 70-year-old woman, says she feels queasy and short of breath. On the climb an oncoming lorry on auxiliary lights throws up a wall of snow spray, and 300 m ahead a queue of cars is crawling behind a snow plough. The speed limit is 80 km/h.
1. Identify the hazards in this situation and explain how you prioritise them before deciding whether to continue over the pass.
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Hazards: reduced friction (sleet turning to snow, 4 mm tread), severely reduced visibility from spray, an oncoming heavy vehicle on auxiliary lights, a slow snow plough with a queue behind it, fatigue after 11 hours on duty, a tight ferry deadline, a passenger with symptoms, and a washer-fluid system that is running dry.
The priority order is not the order in which they appear but the order in which they can kill someone. First come the hazards that remove your ability to see and stop: spray and a dirty windscreen. Second comes the hazard that removes your ability to react in time: fatigue. Third comes the hazard that distorts your judgement: the timetable. The unwell passenger is a separate, parallel problem.
Practical consequence: before the climb, stop in a safe place, top up washer fluid, and check the pass status (open, convoy/kolonnekjøring, or closed) via the traffic app or roadside signs. If convoy driving is announced, you must join it and follow the escort. If visibility falls to the point where you cannot stop within the distance you can see, you stop - you do not creep on with hazard lights. Keep well back from the plough, do not overtake it, and drop speed so that your stopping distance stays inside the visible road.
2. The passengers insist you keep up speed to catch the 20:35 ferry. How do you handle that pressure, and what do the 4 mm tread and the washer-fluid warning mean for your decisions?
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A published timetable is never a legal or safety justification. Under both traffic law and the rules on professional driving, speed must be adapted to visibility, road conditions and vehicle condition, and a driver may not let a schedule influence that choice. The correct move is to state the decision out loud: 'We may miss the ferry; I will not drive faster than the conditions allow.' Then inform the operator so they can rebook or arrange accommodation.
Tread: 4 mm is above the legal minimum, but grip on snow and slush falls off well before the legal limit is reached. You should treat the tyres as a limiting factor: longer following distance, gentler steering and braking, and no overtaking on the climb.
Washer fluid: on a wet, salted winter road a dry washer bottle can blind you within a minute from the spray of a single lorry. This is not cosmetic - it is a visibility failure. Refill before the pass or, if that is impossible, turn back. If the screen ever becomes unclear and you cannot clear it immediately, stop at the first safe place.
3. How should you handle the unwell passenger while the vehicle is moving, and what findings would make you stop immediately?
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While driving, your only job is driving. Ask the passenger next to her to stay with her, get her into a forward seat with fresh air if she can move safely with the bus stopped, loosen tight clothing at the neck, and ask simple questions: where is the discomfort, does it spread to the arm, jaw or back, is she short of breath at rest, is she sweating, has she had this before, does she take heart medication.
Stop immediately and call 113 if there is chest pain or pressure, breathlessness at rest, cold sweat, fainting or confusion, or if she cannot answer questions coherently. Queasiness alone in a bus on a winding mountain road is usually motion sickness, but in a 70-year-old you do not gamble on it.
If you do stop, choose a lay-by, bus stop or ploughed side road rather than the carriageway, put on hazard lights and reflective vest, and keep the passengers inside a warm bus while you wait, unless there is a fire risk. Never attempt examination or first aid while the vehicle is in motion, and never leave the scene to drive her to hospital yourself when an ambulance can come to you.