Rear end of my bus "KISSED" a light pole last night.... Ouch!

[kyle4501]

You ain't a bus driver till you've hit something! 

I NEVER trust a spotter that doesn't have a vested intrest in the safety of me & my stuff.

I've watched volunteer spotters back people into things & then just say 'sorry' & walk away.

Jack Conrad is right - it is your coach, don't let them rush you.

To prevent dejavue  of some of my darker moments in backing, I'll walk around the rig to ensure a minimum of 3 feet of clearance all the way around then back up 1 foot. Then walk around to verify the 3' clear & back up 1 foot. I'll repeat this until I'm in the space. You'd be surprised how fast some things can move 2 feet.    All that walking around is good after sitting for the drive. 

My goal is to stop BEFORE I hear something expensive.     

[buswarrior]

The trick is eye balling the obstructions before you get drawn all the way past where you are going to reverse.

We react to obstructions without thinking about it when driving forward.

Trouble is, with the view blocked, reacting doesn't work, and we don't have a naturally occurring, developed, searching system for backing. The methodology has to start a long way before you reach for the shifter to back up.

Out of sight, out of mind, into the bumper.

Getting Out And Looking doesn't work without taking inventory of what you are going to run into, without a plan for finding these obstructions in the mirrors, and then avoiding them. If you can't find it in the mirror, it is making a trajectory for the bumper...

Welcome to the Jungle, parking attendants job, at an event like a concert, is to rattle the weak, sick, and injured. They could smell you a mile away, and loved every minute of your performance.

Pretty much the same for your passengers, unwittingly or otherwise.

Just politely ignore them all and do your job of driving safely. The more you tell 'em to shut up, the more they will taunt you, so never mind setting yourself up to be told where to go, just get on with the job.

Good on you for sharing, others will learn something and there's one less dent in a bus conversion.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Tully Lee]

Well this is the part I will need to order from Prevost of Elgin.  Hope it does not take too
long to get.  Will probably have to have a bracket / bolts and a little straight'n out.
Have a body man I will have look at it.

Thanks for following my story and thanks for all the great advise....

Tully Lee

[belfert]

I hate backing up even with a camera.  For some reason my camera has a completely different perspective than the mirrors.  I trust the mirrors more.

I work every year at a large RV parking lot for two weeks.  One job I refuse to do it is direct campers into spots.  I'm not good at it and I don't need the grief if someone backs into another RV.

[Dreamscape]

We kissed the back of our coach, but for a different reason. While I was out visiting my in-laws on the ranch, I had to back up, as the way around the front of the house had too many trees that were very low. I backed up into a gated area and pulled forward. I hit the right rear corner of the bus on a non movable object, a steel gate post. This happened as I was swinging the rear end around when pulling forward. My wife was standing back there and didn't even see what happened as it was dusk and getting darker by the minute. I did have my backup camera on, but it didn't matter, I couldn't see the rear corner anyway. I punched in our air intake vent and left some white paint from the post on the bumper. The post didn't even move, but I sure felt it!

It was a lesson well learned. Next time I'll give more room on both sides or makes sure I don't get in that situation again.

It happens to a lot of us, so don't fret!

Paul

[Len Silva]

Not much help with these situations but, when backing into a campground space, I set a traffic cone where I want the left rear corner to be.  It helps a lot.

[WVA_NATIVE]

You should try driving to Soldier Field during a bear game that's a lot of fun also, talk about traffic and cops on every corner telling you what to do and where to go.

WVaNative

[Tully Lee]

I plan on doing some tail gate parties for Bears games so I better get used the backing up, period.  The traffic and cars and people I have no problems with at all.

Hey, I did get in my Prevost bumper extention today.  However, I noticed that is was in stainless form.
I thought it would have been chromes  Per Prevost, their parts are all stainless.  So now I will either have to have the part chromed or have it buffed out.  My current bumper is chromes. So, what to do?

Tully Lee