CA-Teens trapped,one dead, San Bernadino church bus crash

[katydid23]

I saw an interview with the bus driver that was SUPPOSED to be driving. I felt so bad for him, he was really broken up. he is a professional driver and had another job at the same time. So a church member offered to drive the kids.
Even sadder.

That is so tragic. And that is the driver who lost his life. Awwwww. So sad. The professional must feel horrible about the outcome. Not his fault, but he must feel bad even so.

Busses have often made me nervous. My kids did a lot of school ski trips when they were younger and I had the worst fears about WHO might be driving that huge bus full of kids through the snowy mountain passes. I commend the good bus drivers who kept them safe all those years.

 

[noZme]

This is a tragic story. Church / college / camp / athletic team bus accidents seem to snag my attention & often the drivers haven't had specialized training. Operating a multi-passenger vehicle is very different than a family automobile. I think there should be legislation to require drivers of more than about 6 others to have passed a course & be licensed in a category specific to large vans, small buses, etc.

A very, very long time ago, I was selected to drive(because I was not drinking) a friend's 15 passenger van from one party spot at closing time, to another in the next time zone. There were more than 15 people squshed into the van & in retrospect, I should have made 2 trips or insist everyone walk (less than a mile down the beach). It was freaky to me, coulldn't have felt more foreign if it had been a tractor of freight train. At the time, I thought it was because we were overloaded, but a bigger vehicle handles differently & that has stuck with me all these years.

 

[katydid23]

This is a tragic story. Church / college / camp / athletic team bus accidents seem to snag my attention & often the drivers haven't had specialized training. Operating a multi-passenger vehicle is very different than a family automobile. I think there should be legislation to require drivers of more than about 6 others to have passed a course & be licensed in a category specific to large vans, small buses, etc.

A very, very long time ago, I was selected to drive(because I was not drinking) a friend's 15 passenger van from one party spot at closing time, to another in the next time zone. There were more than 15 people squshed into the van & in retrospect, I should have made 2 trips or insist everyone walk (less than a mile down the beach). It was freaky to me, coulldn't have felt more foreign if it had been a tractor of freight train. At the time, I thought it was because we were overloaded, but a bigger vehicle handles differently & that has stuck with me all these years.

THis is a very good point. There is an article upstream a little describing this accidxent. Apparently the bus driver came around a corner, going downhill, and crossed the median hitting an oncoming truck. That sounds just like an inexperienced driver losing control of a large vehicle on a steep windy grade.

I have never driven a large bus, but I drove an RV on weekend and it was very difficult. I could not imagine being in the ice and snow on a steep windy grade. This church is probably going to be sued and I feel bad about that, but
they put them self in a hard situation. Nobody really wins.

 

[JBean]

I saw an interview with the bus driver that was SUPPOSED to be driving. I felt so bad for him, he was really broken up. he is a professional driver and had another job at the same time. So a church member offered to drive the kids.
Even sadder.

I found an article and it seems I have it backwards,
>>
John Cho, another deacon at the church, said the bus driver was a professional driver who volunteered to make the trip.
Lee[ deacon at the church] said he normally would have driven the bus.
"I was supposed to be driving, but I had a job to do," Lee said as he choked back tears. "So I asked other church member to drive."<<
http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/school-bus-over-side-of-highway-20100221

 

[katydid23]

I found an article and it seems I have it backwards,
>>
John Cho, another deacon at the church, said the bus driver was a professional driver who volunteered to make the trip.
Lee[ deacon at the church] said he normally would have driven the bus.
"I was supposed to be driving, but I had a job to do," Lee said as he choked back tears. "So I asked other church member to drive."<<
http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/school-bus-over-side-of-highway-20100221

It is a very good thing that he is a professional driver. That makes it a tragic accident, and not negligence on anyone's part.

 

[Nova]

I don't think anything was meant as a "woman joke" It is my MOM we are talking about.... LOL but she never was good at directions, espescially in a car with 2 young girls that missed their Daddy. Maybe I am off on where we got lost? But I know she (we) ended up in or on big bear. I was just trying to get a sense of where this accident happened. I vividly remember burning the brakes coming down a scary mountain road, and being very lost. My poor Mama held it together to get us safe, and then by noon the next day, we were riding roller coasters AFTER going back over the mountain.

I was just kidding about the "woman drive joke." I meant no offense to your mother or you and I'm sorry if that wasn't clear.

It is certainly true that roads in mountainous areas tend to curve a lot, so once you lose your sense of direction, it's hard to get it back. What's surprising is that Magic Mountain literally has its own freeway exit. To get to Big Bear, you have to leave the freeway and take a two-lane road up to 8,000 feet. I would have thought your mom might notice the difference. LOL.

 

[mommy23]

I was just kidding about the "woman drive joke." I meant no offense to your mother or you and I'm sorry if that wasn't clear.

It is certainly true that roads in mountainous areas tend to curve a lot, so once you lose your sense of direction, it's hard to get it back. What's surprising is that Magic Mountain literally has its own freeway exit. To get to Big Bear, you have to leave the freeway and take a two-lane road up to 8,000 feet. I would have thought your mom might notice the difference. LOL.

Oh I didn't take offense. I am actually finding this very comical now knowing just how far off my Mom really was! :floorlaugh: My Dad still to this day, is mad at my Mom for that, he tore out a page of his brand new atlas, and highlighted the directions for her. And she still messed it up. :innocent::floorlaugh: