---
title: "Heroic Passenger Saves Runaway Bus Full of People By Hitting Brakes at Cliff’s Edge"
description: "\"A hair's breadth from catastrophe,\" a local police official said."
date: "2017-09-26"
modified: "2017-09-27"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/14664/heroic-passenger-saves-runaway-bus-full-of-people-by-hitting-brakes-at-cliffs-edge"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Alps"
  - "Austria"
  - "Bus Crash"
  - "Hero"
---

# Heroic Passenger Saves Runaway Bus Full of People By Hitting Brakes at Cliff’s Edge

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/09/21751881_1117379495073731_6043903514016258336_n.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Twenty-two people are lucky to be alive today after a heroic bus passenger lept into action when their driver passed out behind the wheel, managing to apply the brakes just as the coach crashed through a wooden guardrail above a [300-foot drop](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/14571/watch-a-bunch-of-beater-cars-go-flying-off-a-300-foot-cliff-in-alaska>) in the Austrian Alps, [the *BBC* reports.](<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41381391>)

The tour group was traveling on a rural road in the Tyrolean Alps in Austria on Saturday when the 76-year-old driver somehow became incapacitated. The passenger, a 65-year-old man from France, was seated nearby and noticed the situation unfolding just in time. What happened next was a true action movie sequence in the BBC's telling, with the Frenchman vaulting into the driver's seat and reaching the brake pedal just in the nick of time as the bus veered off the road. It came to a halt with its front left wheel dangling over the edge of the drop off.

Pictures from the scene show just how close things came to an [unmitigated disaster.](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/12097/bus-crash-likely-kills-18-tourists-in-germany>) Had the passenger not been able to stop in time, the bus would have rolled many, many times on its violent trip down the incredibly steep slope. [In the words](<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41381391>) of a local police official, they were "a hair's breadth from catastrophe."

It's possible the wooden guardrail spearing into the front of the bus slowed it down somewhat as well, but still, it's clear the quick actions of that passenger saved quite a few lives this weekend.

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)