real bad bus wreck!

[5B Steve]

   Fox news just reported that 2 tractor trailers collied with a bus in the Phoenix.  They mentioned that there were several deaths.


    Steve 5B.....

[Jriddle]

Here are some links

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/05/arizona.bus.crash/index.html

http://www.abc15.com/content/traffic/story/7-still-critical-after-bus-crash-kills-6-on/aax2nXeip0aYukqCPSQXSA.cspx

John

[Sean]

The coach is a MarcoPolo.  Hard to tell after that much damage, but looks to be a Viaggio, and, coming out of central Mexico, I would guess it's a Dina.

Considering what the coach went through, it's mostly intact.  I wonder if there would have been any fatalities at all if buses had seat belts, and passengers wore them.  The six dead were ejected through the windows during the roll.

We have belts in eight of our nine seating positions, and all furniture is bolted to steel frame.  We always wear them in the cockpit.  Around town, I generally have not made folks upstairs belt in, except for children.  This is pretty clear evidence that I should be adamant about it at higher speeds.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[gumpy]

Yeah, isn't this something. The company did not have a license for interstate travel. It had been formally denied in December because they didn't respond to a request
for more information. And yet they've been coming across the US border and nobody caught that? 

Boy I feel so much better about our homeland security and border patrol!

[Dreamscape]

I just feel bad for the family members that have to deal with such a terrible loss. 

[Iceni John]

Another intriguing snippet that I heard this morning from ABC 7 (our local less-than-stellar purveyors of Disney-esque news reporting) was that the bus owners apparently specialized in transporting clientele who have difficulties with their immigrancy status, or words to that effect.   Is ABC 7 implying something, and if so is it pertinant to the accident, or is it fomenting an attitude of "It's only a busload of Mexicans".   Whatever the reason, I found this comment on the air to be extremely distasteful and derogatory, and demeaning of an entire group of folk who often are depicted only in negative terms.   Did anyone else in LA also hear this flippant comment, about 6.30 this morning?

Regarding seatbelts, one of many things that greatly impressed me about bus services in Mexico was the use of seatbelts.   All the ADO buses south of Cancun I went on had seatbelts at every seat, as did the Primera Plus from Aguascalientes to DF.   I wonder if this bus was fitted with them?

John