Bus loses traction

[Mike in GA]

This has been around a while, but still instructive for winter driving.
Rule #1: Don't attempt mountain roads in icing conditions
Rule #2: See rule #1, even if you have one of those rare 4-wheel drive buses.
Mike in GA

A horror bus ride, skidding down the Remarkables ski resort mountain road.

[Iceni John]

Why would the driver even start that trip without using chains or sanders (or both)?   Crazy.   Anyway, 4WD wouldn't help you slow down  -  the laws of physics still apply regardless of how many wheels are powered.   That's one reason you see so many 4WD SUVs and pickup trucks sliding off the road when it's snowy:  their drivers think they can ignore reality and drive like hoons just because they have a big 4WD.

John

[TomC]

The easiest way to avoid this is not to drive in bad situations in the first place. Good Luck, TomC

[CrabbyMilton]

Yes don't go into dangerous conditions in the first place but it does make me wonder where the salters and plows are.
Why do some people feel a great need to add obnoxious noise to an YOUTUBE video?

[muldoonman]

Many years ago in Ruidoso NM. seen a church bus (no chains) do the same thing and if the cable hadn't been on the side of that small mountain road, Yee Haw! Had a place up there and used to ski every weekend. Best part of the day was wait until they shut the bar down and watch the train wreck down the mountain!

[bevans6]

There is a tremendous pressure in a schedule, and a driver who has to bring 50 people back from a ski day, when he knows they have nowhere to stay overnight, no food, no accommodation beyond catch-as-catch-can in a hut has a huge pressure to put it in gear and do the best he can to bring the people home safely.  Same with regular fare bus travel - I can't count the times when I followed a Voyageur bus from Toronto to Ottawa in winter, the bus breaking the trail on a snow covered highway and me trying to keep up.   I find it very easy for people sitting in the comfort of their homes to second guess the decisions of the working man who was doing his best, and yes, some times his best wasn't good enough.  Easy to say don't put it in gear when you aren't the one losing his job because of that decision.

Brian

[Nusa]

Why would the driver even start that trip without using chains or sanders (or both)?   Crazy.   Anyway, 4WD wouldn't help you slow down  -  the laws of physics still apply regardless of how many wheels are powered.   That's one reason you see so many 4WD SUVs and pickup trucks sliding off the road when it's snowy:  their drivers think they can ignore reality and drive like hoons just because they have a big 4WD.

John

Ain't that the truth. I learned that lesson in physics at age 16 driving a 69 Jeep Commando on city streets after a big snowfall in Indiana. After failing to stop, I went right through the intersection and up over the curb. I was lucky and got away with only ripping off the drivers door mirror on the phone pole. That's not to say I didn't do some crazy things with that Jeep over the years (in the days before 4WD was commonplace), but I didn't repeat that mistake and I never crumpled it again. (My sister did, but that's another story.)

[lostagain]

What Brian said.

When I drove for Brewster's, we were out in any kind of weather and conditions. The only thing to stop us was if the highway was closed. There is only a couple of occasions over the years that I remember stopping and waiting for a sand truck, such as in slippery conditions like in the video above.
Having the luxury to choose whether to run or wait it out is nice for us recreational bus nuts. But commercial traffic keeps going as long as the roads are open.

JC

[eagle19952]

Try Anchorage to Minneapolis via Winnipeg in November....it's do-able without chains if you have the skills....and the pucker...

[bcbusman]

This bus driver rocks 

Is this Britain's best bus driver?