Truck Underride Accidents: Drivers Endangered When Cars Slide Under Trailers

My drivers ed teacher, 43 years ago, was the high school basketball coach. He was not even a gym teacher. Just the basketball coach. My guess is they made him drivers ed instructor to justify his salary. But I digress.

IMNTBHO Anyone, who wishes to drive anything on the roads, should attend, at their own expense, a state run(since this is the agency that will license you) driving school. The instructors in each of the schools should be representative of the professional driving, law enforcement, and insurance fields. No student shall graduate, or obtain a license without full knowledge of all the aspects of driving. Let's just say a 90% or better on all tests. This school would not be cheap. But as we all know, driving is a priveledge, not a right and learning to drive should be costly enough, and difficult enough to pass that they take it seriously.

If you don't pass the first time, then you must repeat the entire course at your expense. NO DISCOUNTS. If you fail three times, you NEVER get a license. If you are then caught driving without a license it should be a felony with mandatory prison time.

I also propose that all drivers licenses have classes on them like the CDL and, in most states, a motorcycle license.
You cannot drive a high profile vehicle, not even an SUV or pickup without first passing the proper course. You cannot rent a uhaul or drive a motor home or even pull a boat trailer, without first passing the proper course.

Now I know this will never happen but a guy can dream..

But just think of this the next time you see some fool do something stupid on the road. They are going to teach their kids how to drive. Scary huh? In fact, some of them,their kids are already learning just by watching Mom and Dad.

 

ICC bumper smack down....could be worse...teaching idiots to attempt this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyC2uepWe7E

 

Not a very pretty sight.

 

Hey, I've got an idea! How about we make it illegal to run into the back of a parked trailer?

I am so awesome sometimes.

 

There was a gal that ran under a trailer from the side here in WI on 51 near the TA because she was busy texting while driving.

A friend of ours down in Florida sent us an email with a bunch of pics of an accident that were the results of a texting while driving accident. Those were really ugly, and I didn't even look at all of them. There was a disclaimer after the first 5 pictures that the rest were extremely graphic in nature. That was enough for me to stop.

We actually forwarded them to the gal that did the classroom portion of the driver ed classes for our area. She asked for them.

 

I don't think my kids deserved a death sentence 5 weeks ago when their Subaru Legacy rear ended a school bus in Cooperville, Michigan. A car that rates 4 out of 5 for front end collison, has to hit something in order for all of the safety features designed into the car to work properly. The windshield is not one of those features. We are mandated to pay thousands of additional dollars on each vehicle we purchase for required safety devices. School busses should not be an exception.

Paul J. Privacky
Ravenna, Michigan

 

Sorry for the loss, But how or why did they rear end a school buss?
When you state windshield, did they not have their seat belts on?

 

Only if you put that so called under ride protection on the bus, it won't be able to maneuver because anything hanging down off the rear bumper will be jammed into the ground the first time the bus goes up over anything. Look at the overhang on the bus. And if you decide to put the wheels further back, it can't make the tight turns in the neighborhoods. So either way, no bus.

They're designed the way they are for a reason, right down to the attention grabbing color. Sorry to be harsh, but it would be a far different story if your kids, or anyone's, were the ones killed on the bus by someone who hit them. You don't hit a school bus. Ever.

 

They had their belts on and their phones were not in use. Was it my son's fault? Yes. What distracted them? I don't know, but the first part of the car that hit the back of the bus was the windshield followed by my kid's faces. They were dead before the air bags went off. If nobody ran into anything, what would we need any safety features for? My argument is that the car that left my driveway met Federal standards for safety. Thoes safety features were negated by a vehicle with a 30" bumper height.