Yet another bus accident...

[joanna71985]

So far nobody is pressing charges.

I can't see how anybody could. He walked right into the path of the bus

[Big Wallaby]

I went to dinner last night with a friend who works at PO. Needless to say, many of the guests there were... special. Complaining, and then immediately asking "So, what happened with that thing?"

I don't know whether the operative word is jerks or idiots. I would prefer it be the latter. But then, I don't think I can choose to be that naive here.

[mapo]

I went to dinner last night with a friend who works at PO. Needless to say, many of the guests there were... special. Complaining, and then immediately asking "So, what happened with that thing?"

I don't know whether the operative word is jerks or idiots. I would prefer it be the latter. But then, I don't think I can choose to be that naive here.

GHOULS

mapo

[TechieSidhe]

So far nobody is pressing charges.

Sadly, even though the man walked in front of the bus, there probably will be a lawsuit from the family, though. I am sure scumbag lawyers are burning up their cellphones trying to get them to sue, and get some money from Mickey's pockets.

How the fark do you NOT notice a Disney bus? It's loud and kinda big. Plus, for most of POR, the bus circumnavigates the outside of the resort. Where was he trying to go?

I feel for the bus driver. Nobody should have to see that, or be involved in it. I hope she does okay.

[Big Wallaby]

There is more to this story. Things I am not going to say. But it would probably be very, very difficult to get money out of Disney for this one, and rightly so. Meanwhile, I would be quite alright with the bus driver suing the guy's estate.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

there have been a LOT of accidents involving pedestrians and moving vehicles, where the pedestrian was wearing headphones and did not hear the traffic, and of course, the "look both ways before crossing" training seems to have disappeared or is being ignored.

quite truthfully it sounds like a darwin award for the DOA guest.

I can only hope that the driver can overcome the situation and realize that accidents DO happen, and often the only prevention would be for the "victim" to not be walking around with HUA.

[Big Wallaby]

No Darwin award. No headphones involved. The driver, the guests on the bus and at the load zone, and the guy's family are the victims. :mad:

Having looked at the news reports, I think you can read the meaning.

How dare anyone use Disney World, or any other place known for being happy, to do that. How dare he do that to his family, how dare he do that to the other guests, and how dare he do that to the bus driver... a wonderfully sweet lady who never deserved to have someone do that to her. I can pretty much guarantee you she'll never be the same.

[Zazu]

Since this thread is already a downer, perhaps it's time for me to repeat my saddest story on this subject. Caution: major bummer follows:


A friend was a locomotive engineer for a Class I railroad. (It really doesn't matter which one.) On the day in question, he was at the throttle of a train proceeding at about 25mph through a residential neighborhood.

As he came around a curve, he saw the boy. Walking along the track, between the rails, with the telltale white wires drooping from both ears. He must have had the volume set to "11" because he didn't react to the noise of the train, whistle blowing, bell ringing, nor even the prayers of the unfortunate engineer.

Trains can't stop on a dime, even from such a low speed. He tried though, locking up every brake on the train in emergency, which caused two derailments and a broken rail behind him.

It wasn't enough.

When he finally got home that night, he went to his son's bedroom and asked for his iPod. As his son -- who was about the same age as the dead boy -- watched in confusion, his father tore one of the two earpieces off the unit and explained, "I'm doing this because I love you."

To this day, he still wakes up in the middle of the night hearing the sound the collision made -- or that he imagines it made -- even over the sound of the train, brakes, whistle, and bell.

To this day, over two decades later, he hasn't been able to get aboard a train. Not as an engineer, not as a passenger. I doubt I could get him onto Big Thunder. The railroad has kept him on in an office job at his old pay rate -- a class move all by itself -- but that's not enough either.

If you have an iPod or other music device, don't listen with both ears at once unless you're sitting down (and not driving). If you have kids, get them a mono earpiece -- they are available. Please make sure this doesn't happen to someone you love -- or to a bus or train operator you've never met.


Sorry to harsh everyone's vibe, but it's a story I promised him I'd tell at least once a year. Now that I've got that done for 2011, I can try to forget it again.

[Rosie]

How dare anyone use Disney World, or any other place known for being happy, to do that. How dare he do that to his family, how dare he do that to the other guests, and how dare he do that to the bus driver... a wonderfully sweet lady who never deserved to have someone do that to her. I can pretty much guarantee you she'll never be the same.

Unfortunately I can attest to the fact that poor driver will never be the same again. From working traffic homicide for 25 years I have never seen a driver/victim totally recover from this tramatic incident. My heart goes out to this poor woman.

Rosie

[Big Wallaby]

That is very sad, Zazu. Even more sad is that it happens more often than people would like to think.

And especially sad, the kid didn't necessarily have to have their iPod turned up all that high to drown out the sound of a train behind them. I don't remember where I saw this, but there was either an article or news piece of some sort, talking about how, with the Doppler effect, a train can quite literally sneak up behind you, even with the horn blaring and such, and you'll never notice it until it's way too late if you have anything in your ears.

I know of a family back in Oregon that watched their small child turned to hamburger, because they were crossing through a tunnel or some other narrow place... Doesn't really matter why, it was just a narrow place where from the tracks you had no place to go. The rest of the family made it and was helpless to do anything.

Beyond the iPod, there is another lesson here. Stay off of and away from train tracks. There is a reason it's illegal trespassing to walk down them. Don't do it, earphones or not. Trains are not something to be played with. They will always, ALWAYS win.

That said, I stand with Zazu about the headphones. Mono is okay. Stereo if you don't have anything you need to hear (like, walking down a road). Thank you, Zazu, for doing the difficult thing of posting that. I know some, though I am quite sure not all, of where you come from in posting that. I've operated large vehicles, but never a train on the ground.