Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10413

Today I pulled out of the garage at work, drove a few blocks and pulled up to a red light. I was sitting there waiting for it to change so I could get on the freeway when a city bus passed me and t-boned a Buick crossing in front of us. I looked up and saw the light was still red. The light turned green and I turned on the the freeway ramp and dialed 911. I told 911 that a city bus hit a car and the location. They asked if there were injuries and I said I didn't know, but the Buick took a pretty good knock. They said they'd send a scout car to the location.

As I drove home I called work to tell my coworker what I just saw and then told her I should probably call the police back and tell them I saw that the light was red. She suggested going back to the scene in case they needed a statement. The freeway I was on had some roadwork and was backed up, I got off on an east/west freeway and cut across to another one to head south back downtown. Once I got back downtown I had to take a surface street probably 8 blocks to get back to where the accident was. I figured by the time I got there it might be gone. While I was driving that way there was a police car in traffic with me as well so I had to slow down.

I got up to the accident scene and realized the police car that has been driving alongside me was actually responding to the accident and was the first one there. I rolled down my window and told an officer that I called 911 and saw the bus run the light and asked if she needed a statement or anything. I parked and gave her my card and for some reason she wrote my date of birth on it and boarded the bus.

I went and stood on the corner with all of the bus riders who got off the bus. There was a woman there yelling.

"My neck! My neck! My neck AND my back! That motherfucker drunk! I gonna get a MONTH free bus passes. No, fuck that, I need more than that! My head all fucked up! I did a flip! My head hit all the poles! I gonna have that motherfucker job, he ain't drivin no more fuckin buses!"

A cop motioned at her to be quiet. She stood there with the rest of us for about 30 seconds before yelling about her neck some more.

A man in a blue shirt started taking down information from the people standing around. From what I could gather he was with the bus service.

Then EMS shows up and the guy sees us all on the corner and smirks, "I bet all of you want to go to the hospital." He keeps walking and talks to the cop before looking at the man in the Buick and a few people who are still sitting on the bus. Meanwhile the passenger in the Buick got out of the car and started snapping pictures of the bus and the Buick with a disposable camera.

Finally the cop who I gave my card to came back out of the bus and I asked if she needed anything else from me and she said I was all set, so I left.

Took me an extra 30 minutes to get home, but it was worth the entertainment.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Disgusting den of creepitude
Posts: 9694

Thats better than whatching reruns on the TV.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: in colorado somewhere!
Posts: 25592

Damm bus drivers. How many people out there see buses pulling right into your lane after they pick up passengers like your not even there? Good job,devilmoon. I would have done the same thing.
I had a strange day too although not even close to what you did. I was at the 7-11 on west Colfax and near Sheridan,when a lady came up to me and asked me if I seen her car. This 20ish girlie got jacked,right in front of the 7-11 at around 1:00 today. And all those cameras they got there,nothing! The idiot left her keys in the car.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Boston
Posts: 6562

I've seen a number of school buses hit the gas when a light is changing from yellow to red, and it always bothered me. These people are supposed to be transporting children safely home, not doing their job as quickly as possible so they might catch Maury before making the evening slop. Scary shit, man.

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Registered: Jan 2003
Location: mediocre apartment
Posts: 2614

I once saw a bus on campus cream a little Toyota. The bus was haulin' total ass through a red light, and the Toyota that got smacked got thrown (really, it fucking flew) across the street, up a little hill and into a tree by the life sciences building. The bus went the rest of the block before stopping. That's some hella inertia there.

In all my time on the road doing this seatbelt survey job, 8 hours a day standing at street corners, I've not seen an accident occur. How strange.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: All East Coast : USA
Posts: 2450

quote:

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Originally posted by Vegas
I've seen a number of school buses hit the gas when a light is changing from yellow to red, and it always bothered me. These people are supposed to be transporting children safely home, not doing their job as quickly as possible so they might catch Maury before making the evening slop. Scary shit, man.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

I was two car lengths behind (and two lanes over) from a car that slammed into stopped traffic going about 60 mph. Glass from the crash sprayed my car as I swerved around it. The moving vehicle that did the slamming-into had tried to swerve at the last moment, when he realized that the line of cars in front of him was stopped and his swerving motion sent him on a trajectory that would have intersected mine iffen the car in the lane next to me hadn't caught him first. I stopped and helped out as best I could, including giving a statement. I then ended up giving the drivers of the car that caused the accident and the car next to me that saved me from getting smashed rides home. I felt bad for everyone involved (especially the old ladies that got rearended pretty badly) but it was an interesting day for me.

I'm glad that DMoon isn't hurt. Too bad we didn't get pictures.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Beyond Mason-Dixon Line
Posts: 16165

Re: My ride home today

quote:

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Originally posted by DevilMoon
. . . Took me an extra 30 minutes to get home, but it was worth the entertainment.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: LfuckinA
Posts: 3350

Jeez, you guys have crazy ass bus drivers in your areas. I've never seen a problem initiated by a bus. My brother's been involved in a couple of accidents (he's a bus driver) but all of them were the greatest drivers in L.A. who've T-boned the bus or rear ended it.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10413

quote:

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Originally posted by J E B Stuart
Props to ya, DM. In my book, it's also worth the extra 30 minutes knowin' y'did th'right thing.

Amen.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10413

quote:

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Originally posted by flocat
Jeez, you guys have crazy ass bus drivers in your areas. I've never seen a problem initiated by a bus. My brother's been involved in a couple of accidents (he's a bus driver) but all of them were the greatest drivers in L.A. who've T-boned the bus or rear ended it.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

Busses had automatic right of way in Minnesota, by law. It is your job to give them room and let them run their routes. I couldn't believe how courteous Japanese busses were when I arrived. They never push their way into traffic, at least not that I've seen. it may be different in Tokyo.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Posts: 1055

quote:

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Originally posted by Large Filipino
How many people out there see buses pulling right into your lane after they pick up passengers like your not even there?

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: in colorado somewhere!
Posts: 25592

Oh I seen that alot,SG. I always give em right of way but more than a few times,they just don't see me when your going a certain speed and your at the "point of no return"when your mind says"he won't just cut me off"and you make a snap decision that he's not ready to go yet and you can safely pass,then the driver swerves into you and you gotta slam on your brakes or swerve into the next lane.I never can understand either why this state thinks it's safe to put up a bus stop just feet away from a major highway entrance ramp.
I wanted to go to a Burger King one day and there was a bus just before the turn. He was stopped to pick up passengers(were talking public busses now,not school buses)and I went around him so I could pull in. He took off when I was pulling in and almost hit me. And HE had the adasity to honk!
Law or not,bus drivers need to yield every now and then. And these people are just not doing it.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: in colorado somewhere!
Posts: 25592

quote:

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Originally posted by Nutrimentia
I was two car lengths behind ....

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: East Texas
Posts: 328

my sister once ran her VW bug under a school bus.

In her case I asked "How the fuck did your blind ass NOT see a BUS?"

But getting hit by a bus is another matter all together......maybe it was karma

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

Audacity.

Yeah, it was as close as could be. I've had other accidents that were closer and thus ended up being actual accidents, but this isn't the place to go into it all.

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