bus accident ,western canada

[scottie]

not much imformation right now
but a bus accident happened this morning in alberta canada.
sounds like there was a tractor trailer involved with a load of pipes
weather was bad ,blowing snow...
driver of bus didnt make it and 15 others hurt
scottie

[HighTechRedneck]

Tragic.  As has been previously discussed, there sure have been more bus accidents lately.  I hope and pray that the rest of the people are ok.

This brings to mind something I have long wondered.  In most buses, the driver is very vulnerable and is often killed or seriously injured even when the passengers aren't so bad off.  It seems like it would be a good idea to heavily reinforce the drivers area and use a 5-point harness (or at least shoulder belt) instead of just a lap belt.  Instead many buses stick the driver out in front in the only flimsy part of the whole beast, with just a light lap belt to secure them.  Granted, with 36,000+ pounds behind the driver, it may not be physically possible to protect them.  But it just seems like if a race car can be built to let a driver walk away from a 250mph crash, then a bus could be built to protect the driver, even if it means adding a 1000 pounds of steel around them.  I seem to recall that last year someone on this board discussed how they were adding some reinforcement around the cockpit area.

[bobofthenorth]

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=6d38f821-2ae9-4a01-9bca-4a1b577e0e33
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2008/01/27/4796772.html

[lyndon]

Here's a CTV link:

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/RTGAMArticleHTMLTemplate/A/20080127/bussun?brand=generic&hub=&tf=CFCNPlus/generic/hubs/frontpage.html&cf=CFCNPlus/generic/hubs/frontpage.cfg&slug=bussun&date=20080127&archive=CFCNPlus&ad_page_name=&nav=home&subnav=fullstory&site_cfcn=http://calgary.ctv.ca

Don

[Kristinsgrandpa]

It's kind of hard to tell, but it looks like the pipe extended about 3 ft behind the rear of the trailer.  It could have been more since the first 4 seats (2 rows) were in the crash zone.

Ed

[HighTechRedneck]

Well, reinforcing the front would definitely not help with that.

What a horrible accident, but it is fortunate that at this time there has only been the one fatality, although 2 are in critical condition, 3 in serious condition, 2 more remain hospitalized and 8 others were treated treated and released.

[lostagain]

I drive our Junior hockey team all over the East and West Kootenays of British Columbia all winter. Most of it is at night and in varying degrees of snowy conditions. I find that being able to slow down to a safe speed where you could stop within your field of vision is at times a difficult thing to do. I feel pressure to go faster from the passengers when I feel they think I'm too slow. (Just my imagination of course). Or the pressure comes from a tail-gating semi being pushy... I feel that I am a safe and cautious driver and I go slow enough most of the time, but you know how once in a while you catch yourself thinking: this feels awckward, I should be slowing down a bit. A couple weeks ago, coming home from a game over Kootenay pass (Hwy 3, Salmo-Creston) in a blizzard, the visibility at times was so bad that I was almost stopped, not wanting to go off the road and not wanting to rear-end another vehicle, and at the same time hoping we would not get hit from behind by a semi. Good thing their wasn't much traffic at all.
Driving would be so much easier if there was no one else using the highway...
IMHO, most accidents are caused by eccessive speed and inattention. And that goes for profesional drivers too.
What do you think?

[superpickle]

I for One, will be making this the Very last "Accident " post i look at.
Prefer to Hide head in the Sand.




 

[lyndon]

IMHO, most accidents are caused by eccessive speed and inattention. And that goes for profesional drivers too.
What do you think?

IMHO, recognition and respect for those conditions and habits which cause accidents are marks of a true professional. And recognition that while no one gets it right every time, learning from every mistake -- and making appropriate adjustments -- is essential to a long and safe career.

Don