Safety first for me. Any potential risks assessed and negated where possible.

The stats do favour you though if there has never been an accident in the scenario I've described. As impossible as it is to ensure against an accident where a driver of a HGV vehicle might have a medical emergency and find themselves in trouble (and motorways have the same problem and to a larger extent), I'd still try to avoid bus routes like the one I've described in built up areas.

So I can still see risk there myself. If I was planning a city and bus routes I wouldn't be setting it up like that! But as you say they must have stats of accidents and if nothing of that nature has happened then it must be safe...I guess.

Anyway.....looks like this incident was a vehicle coming up Queen Street which also seems a bit bizarre as it's usually chock full of traffic at all times. It's hard to imagine a vehicle building up any acceleration and having a clear run to do that. I wonder exactly where the driver lost control?

Hard to say, I don't know how necessary they are for supporting - they don't look like they can be load-bearing to me, but I'm not an architect! Might have meant Queen Street Station being closed till at least January, though.

There might not have been that many cars around - it's the very middle of the one-way system, so it's mostly buses and taxis you see. There are better ways for cars to get most places!

Cut out the argumentative posts or risk having the thread closed.

Oops, grrr. OK boss and sorry.

I'm sure I heard an onlooker say on Sky earlier that quite a few cars and traffic lights were damaged as it made it's way down the street.

I feel so sorry for the people who died today, their families, friends and also the good folk of Glasgow and indeed Scotland. My thoughts too for those injured.

Again they rally together.

Terrible news. I really feel for the truck driver guy who survived and is now apparently talking with Police. Looks as though he had a heart attack though the Police won't confirm yet but he will struggle to come to terms with this.

I've been at work since 11:00am where they have a telly on all day, volume turned down with subtitles on. I saw the breaking news come on and by the time I'd finished work, six people had sadly been killed. Life is so fragile. When I started work, those six people were maybe leaving their homes to do Christmas shopping, and when I'd finished work, they'd lost their lives in a dreadful accident.

There has been so much sadness this week Sad events like this tend to make me look at what is really important in life. I really feel for the families that have lost loved ones today.

Just watching the news which is reporting the lights are off now in preparation for removing bodies. That is so poignant, but horrendous.

I work in Glasgow city centre (get the train to and from Queen Street every day but I use the Dundas Street entrance) and the first I knew of this was when I got a load of texts, emails and phone calls asking if I was ok.

It's interesting to note that the area where the lorry hit will be redeveloped in the next 2 to 3 years, with the hotel being demolished and the station concourse extended towards George Square.

That's good news. I was in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games and the station really couldn't cope with the numbers of passengers. The queues were epic.

I found this on the plans: http://news.stv.tv/west-central/2941...n-development/

Oh dear. I can't imagine what it must be like for their loved ones, knowing they've been there all this time.

Don't know which direction the lorry was coming from, but the section of Queen St from Ingram St to George Square can be fairly clear (e.g. when the Google car went down it), and no parking on that bit or on the left hand side on George Square either.

There is a diagram here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-west-30580114

I fear that could be another life lost somewhere down the line as a result of a complete tragedy.

Never know what's around the corner.

No, the council turned the Christmas lights off as "a mark of respect", after being harangued into doing so by the hand-wringing busybodies on Twitter. Probably the same type that demanded that the ceramic poppies at the Tower of London be kept in the ground for a few extra weeks, despite not even having purchased one. They love the cheap token acts made by others, but never spend any of their own time or money in contributing to the cause.

The lights should have been kept on, especially when there are still children's bodies at the scene - if I were one of their relatives, I would have found it comforting that they had the colourful lights shining beside them.

That's very true Damned if they do, damned if they don't, I guess.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...rash_624-3.jpg

Afraid you will always get this and i do despair at the 'critics' sometimes. IMO the services are acting professionally and appropriately.

Has it officially been confirmed that children are amongst the fatalities?

It's a hard one BG, people often feel compelled to make a gesture and at times it might be right or wrong. When there are so many victims it's hard to know what anyone would want as it has to be so personal to 'them'. People asking for things are no doubt on a knee jerk and just feeling for those people effected. I'm sure it being so close to Christmas has an additional factor for many people thinking they are requesting the right thing.

Don't think so. Haven't seen anything on Twitter haranguing the council about lights either...

No........nothing confirmed yet other than 6 dead....at the moment. There are others who were seriously injured so it may end up as more than six.

Not confirmed officially, but eyewitnesses report "small children" as being among the victims.

One woman witness who spoke on Channel4 News who had managed to calm herself enough after the initial shock spoke of the surreal surroundings...people lying in the road whilst Christmas lights flickered merrily away in the background.

I think the emergency services have done the right thing in switching the lights off. They aren't necessary.