Hotel bus slams into tractor-trailer

I still stand by what I say.... The Trucker was making a safe U-Turn and the Bus was speeding for sure (and maybe not paying attention as well)..... The trucker could see far enough ahead of him to knowing he was ok for no on-coming traffic and he could also see far enough behind him to see no traffic coming from behind him... The bus also would have had more then enough time to stop by the time he would have seen the truck....

The van driver was in the wrong for speeding..

 

I'm not concerned with what the van driver did or did not do or how fast the van driver was going, or what the speed limit was. That is irrelevant. We are part of a truckers forum and we are discussing whether perhaps the truck driver may have been a contributing factor to the accident. I say yes. Whether the trucker was issued a citation or not is also irrelevant. What is relevant is how the settlement or court trial(s) goes because there will be legal proceedings. And we're not even going to consider at this time that USA Truck may have a "Zero-Tolerance U-turn Policy"

So, you would retain that truck driver following that incident, at that location, at that time of day? ... And I'll even give you the van driver was driving 10 over the posted speed limit.

 

i saw this on the news My first thought ... what was this driver thinking ? he would have taken out road signs and alot on sod anyway. USA is going to get screwed over this one.

 

He may have violated company policy. He may not have.

He did not violate a law.

I do not condone it, but the culprit here and according to the police is the van.

 

That may well be because you can tell from the position of the truck/trailer/steer tire that the trucker was there long enough to have stopped and backed up to gain additional turn clearance. So maybe the van driver ran into a stopped vehicle. But the trucker still should not have been stopped in the roadway in the first place, and completely blocking any avenues of escape. I'm not saying the van driver was not perhaps responsible for the crash. I'm just saying the truck driver made a bone-headed maneuver that should have never been attempted and was not absolutely necessary.

 

Speedracer - The fact that he might take out signs and sod is true, he could have taken the turn wider to clear the median... So with this I agree his turn isn't wide enough.. But the driver didn't do anything legally wrong so how will the company get screwed over this???? He didn't create the accident the speeding bus did... If your doing the speed limit on the highway, and someone rear ends you doing 10km over the speed limit... Do you think the cops are going to charge you?? Do you think his insurance is going to come after your insurance company?? I highly doubt you think the answer to those questions are "yes" because you were obeying the law.. Just like this situation the trucker was following the law where the bus driver was not.. The police have clearly stated this in there findings...

Yeah I would retain that truck for sure.. The cops clearly were at the scene (not any of us) and determined that the trucker wasn't at fault and the bus driver was speeding.... If anyone will be taken to court and loose it will be the "passengers vs bus-line" ..... The people were on the bus that was speeding and crashed it into the truck... The truck didn't turn into the bus, the truck was in a U-Turn...

Let's just say we go with your scenario and say the truck started the accident.... The passengers on the bus will still sue the bus company since they will know that he was speeding and the lawyers will question why the bus driver didn't see the truck making a u-turn... How do you challenge a trucker obeying the law and a bus breaking the law???

 

The difference between a car and a trucking making a u-turn there is the car will make the turn from the left turning lane and the truck will make it from the right driving lane. Obviously the if a car made a u-turn at that time and location they wouldn't have been blocking the bus. Pretty big difference.

I agree the bus driver is at fault though. To leave that long a skid mark and hit hard enough to do that much damage I would think they were going more than just a little over the 45mph speed limit. Personally though, I would not have made a u-turn there in a truck. Dumb move even if it was legal IMO.

 

You can't tell he was there a long time by the position... He probably was just going forward and was gonna just run over the grass until the bus hit him.... The trucker wasn't stopped on the roadway he was making a u-turn which means he was still moving... He can't help the fact that a speeding van and hit him... Too me it's stupidity that the bus driver didn't see the big white truck... Nothing would have happened with the bus had it not been speeding or paying attention to what is ahead of it... Other then the truck running over the curb/grass....

Maybe the truck wasn't from around the area and knew he needed to be going the other way.. He seen an opportunity and took it... If he didn't make a U-Turn it looks like it would be a few miles before he could get turned around....

What about the times you have to back into a dock or company right off the road... How is that any different... If someone slams into the side of your trailer while your backing from a road into a dock... Are you seriously going to tell me you will think it was your fault that the car hit you??? Instead of saying "how the hell did the car not see my unit"....

 

Correct the car would need a smaller turning path then the truck.... But this is the obvious part.... But like I stated before it's no different then the daily actions we as truckers have to make.. Like making wide left & right turns... Your taking up a lane your not suppose to drive into.. Or your blocking a straight-away lane to make a right turn on to a single lane road.. It's no different.. Or when your backing up into a dock or something wrong a road way.. They are all the same thing your doing some type of blocking action to perform your job...

But yet the bus was more then likely going well above the posted speed limit... I mean she damaged the engine block and he has to be cut out of the bus... You gotta be going pretty fast to push the motor back and do that type of damage.. Everyone is hounding the driver for making a legal move (stupid or not whatever you wanna believe) but no one bothered saying that the bus driver was being a irresponsible and reckless driver for speeding with precious cargo on board (the passengers of course!!) .... Not to mention that because it's an airport bus you can be #### sure she knows that road pretty good....

Everyone can have there own opinions... If you think U-Turns are unsafe and stupid go ahead... I for one will stand by what I think.. I think U-Turns are perfectly fine.. As long as your safe about it I don't see how it's any different then doing other types of turns we make everyday.. Wide turns here, Wide Turns There... It's all the same difference in my eyes... Would I prefer to turn around another way if I can?? Sure I would but if it's not really an option then you do what you gotta do as long as it's still safe.. If I didn't know the area well and I assessed my surroundings and deemed a U-Turn to be safe I am gonna go ahead and do it.. I trust my judgement as driver and will make decisions accordingly...

Heck I have even done a turn on a 2 lane roadway using the side streets to make my turn wider.. Loaded grossing 125,000lbs in full control and safe movements.... I could see up and down the road for more then enough km's both North and South... I don't do thinks that will put me or others in danger... What that bus driver did was put her passengers in danger by speeding down a road and not obeying the posted speed limit...

 

I can agree with all that. There were other options though and it obviously wasn't done safely in this case.

Yes, the shuttle bus driver was likely not paying attention and it would seem was going way faster than they should have been. Unfortunately though, that is far from being a rarity on the roads. As professional drivers who don't want to end up in a situation like this most of us will go to greater lengths to account for Mr. Murphy. Either the truck driver thought he/she could make the turn quicker, couldn't see far enough behind to see the bus coming or wrongly assumed the vehicle coming up behind him would stop. I don't see that as being done safely.