Sometime around 3:30PM on Monday, a little green bug got mashed on IL Route 176 at IL Route 31 in Crystal Lake. I couldn't tell from the stopped vehicles whether the bug ran into the back of the school bus or whether the bus backed into the bug.
If I had to guess, I'd put my money on the bus being stopped when it was hit. Generally speaking, bus drivers are trained not to back up without a spotter. As one man said to me, "How do you miss a school bus?"
Traffic was a mess, because the eastbound left-turn lane was blocked with the crash and the emergency vehicles. Two police cars, a paramedic vehicle, fire truck and fire commander's vehicle turned out. The passenger in the Beetle was moved by stretcher to the paramedic van for transporting for medical care, and the driver of the bug walked to the paramedic vehicle.
5 comments:
Bus drivers ARE trained to back up withOUT a spotter. Unless there is an aide on the bus, who is going to spot?
Guess I was thinking of a bus backing up in a congested traffic area or school parking lot. Wouldn't it be wise to have a person on the ground behind the bus, watching for people and other vehicles?
I doubt that bus driver backed into the bug, but the driver wouldn't have been able to see the bug in the outside mirrors. Just trying to think "outside the bus".
Of course, it would be wise to have a spotter, but budget constraints don't allow for all buses to have aides that get out (or rather go to the back of the school bus and look out the window) to spot the driver.
The driver is to check all mirrors, put the bus in reverse, honk 3 times, inspect all mirrors again, and then proceed backwards, slowly, with utmost caution.
I used to be a school bus driver. This is how I was taught.
I drove a tour bus in Virginia for three months. Loved backing up that monster in the parking lot at the terminal, but never would have backed up on a city street.
I probably shouldn't even have introduced the possibility that the bus driver might have backed up. I didn't think so and would be surprised, and shocked, if it turns out that s/he did. I suspect the bus began to move forward and the driver of the bug followed, then got distracted. Crunch!
Again, only a guess.
My guess is that there was a cell phone involved, and I ain't talkin' about the bus driver.
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