In July 2007 Europe was shocked by a very serious accident involving a Polish coach which took place in the French Alps (Laffrey). Twenty six persons were killed and twenty four other passengers were seriously injured, when the bus lost its braking capability on the last curve of ‘Rampe de Laffrey’ and fell down from a 13 metre bridge embankment. In this paper the authors present the reconstruction of the last stage of the coach’s travel and identify the multiple causes of the catastrophe. On the basis of the reconstruction and a careful study of previous bus accidents that had happened in this place they have formed some recommendations of how to avoid this kind of accidents in the future together with some suggestions for bus driver training.