Bus Crash in Quebec

[Timkar]

Caused by someone cutting the bus off......
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100102/quebec_crash_100102/20100102?hub=Canada

[buswarrior]

Note to busnuts:

Do not swerve he coach.

They are unrecoverable.

Suck it up and hit it, you already screwed up by letting it get there with you unaware, or they got it coming for being so careless.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Bill B /bus]

Agree! I say again I agree! Do not kill yourself to save an idiot who pulled into your safe zone.
Picture rush hour traffic with construction in Birmingham, AL. Following a flat bed at 45 MPH with maybe 4 car lengths between us. Listening carefully to the CB. Somebody pulled in front of the flat bed. I lifted from the throttle. And then a car pulled in front of me as the brake lights on the flat bed lite up. We all stopped but the car in front of me was scrunched by the anti submarine bracket on the flat bed. I stopped maybe a foot from his bumper. Driver of car wanted to talk about his accident. Last I saw he was sitting in the breakdown lane with vapor rising from the hood.
I had absolutely no sympathy for his predicament. Wouldn't have felt bad even if I had messed up his back end. It would have bothered the insurance company.

Lessons learned: 1) Avoid rush hour if possible, 2) just keep backing up when the idiots take up your safe zone and 3) them before us.

Bill

[jackhartjr]

Back when I worked for John Deere's Transportation Insurance division we did a test in Atlanta rush hour.
We had one truck run with the flow of traffic...the other one 5MPH under the flow, (Which means he was doing 90MPH to stay 5MPH under!LOL)  (That's a joke ya'll!)
The one running with the flow hit his brakes a gazillion times...the one 5MPH under the flow could count on his hands how many time he hit the brakes. 
Now in safety meetings with drivers when I tell that story they always complain that by going just under the prevailing speed of traffic they will always have cars cutting in front of them.  Well...yeah...and then they go on!  DUH!
Jack

[Bill B /bus]

Thanks Jack for the info. That would maintain my safe zone if you have to work through the traffic. OK just run slower and let the idiots fill the space. OK.
Better to pull off for a break. Us retarded, forgot it is retired folks don't have to bull through the traffic anymore.
Bill

[jackhartjr]

Bill, remember the idiots fill the space...then are gone in a second or two.
And the idea about not driving during rush hour is a good one.  We can usually get a meal...or even take a nap and wait it out anyway!
I told my boss I was not going to be on the roads tonight...I just did not want to mess with the traffic from folks coming back from vacation.
Jack

[cody]

I've been thru birmingham during rush hour with construction going on, I know that bit lol.

[expressbus]

We were in Portland Oregon summer of 2008. There had been a crash on the bridge between Oregon and Washington. Traffic was backed up to a slow go for over 5 miles. I was able to get to the right lane and I wanted there because I was exiting to Jantzen Beach (BTW there is no beach). Well about one mile before the Jantzen Beach exit there is an on ramp which under the conditions was fully loaded and backed up out of sight. The on ramp lane continued right into the Jantzen Beach exit so you had almost a one mile weave-merge lane. Now I was letting everyone that wanted my safe zone from the ramp to have it. Most of the weave merge lane was empty so I figured let me get my 60 foot of mess out of everyone's way. Putting on the curb side turn signal did little to stem the flow coming around me, and merging immediately in front of my bumper, hoping someone would give me a gap into the merge lane. So next, with the signal still flashing I started to squeeze over. That is when some idiot who just had to get in the lane ahead of me would not allow me a gap to merge. This little game went on until he pulled up close enough to the entry door that he could and did hit it with his hand. Since the door is fluted stainless steel I can only hope that he broke some of the bones in his hand. The door was unscathed by his anger. Of course I was highly upset at this idiot, who not only went ahead and cut me off, he then stopped still in the left lane until I was beside him. I don't recall what he said to me. I did tell him I had always wondered what an a--hole looked like and thanks for showing me!

I always let anyone who really wants the space in front of me to have it and I'll back off. There are cases that you sometimes have to take advantage of your size to get where you need to be on the highway system. This incident was on I-5 and was on of those times.

We drove almost 7,000 miles on the trip and this was the only incident of road rage that we encountered. Even in San Diego's PM rush hour I did not encounter this type of treatment. I thought people in the Northwest were laid back, accomodating and friendly people. I guess I found the one in a million (or more) that did not fit the stereotype. Turns out I did not care much for Portland anyway.

Will

[PCC]

When I was doing my air brake license training, the instructor taught the class to remember the 3 second rule by asking this question, "If you are driving from LA to NY, and 60 people cut in front of you, how much time do you lose?"

The answer is 3 seconds times 60 people, or 3 minutes.

Running just that little bit slower, and giving space to those who have little, if any, respect for the tonnage under our control, costs us little time in the scheme of things, but spares us wearing out brakes prematurely, or the costs associated with an accident that we might be drawn into by a foolish 'roller skate' driver.

That same instructor made us calculate the horsepower required to stop the bus by asking us how quickly we could get from 0 to 60 MPH, and then asked us how much horsepower that took. Then he said, "multiply that horsepower number by 10, to stop the bus in one-tenth the time".

Sure slowed me down !!