Is it part of your training to ignore traffic signs and lights and to act like you are the only vehicle on the road just because you are driving a larger vehicle than most?
I was almost on a 5 car accident because some bus driver pulled over to pick up passengers. None of the people in the bus stop wanted his bus so he just pulled right back out into traffic without even putting his signal on. Unfortunately there were two vehicles directly beside him and both had to slam brakes on and swerve to keep from getting hit. Of course the three vehicles in the left lane had to do the same, me being one of them. The stinkin bus driver just kept on going like he did nothing wrong!!
Stinking Bus Drivers!!!!

 

They often follow the law of gross tonnage.

I've been a rider on a DC metro bus when we sideswiped an SUV near the US Supreme Court. What a pain; we had to wait for the MPD before they'd let us go and get on another bus.

But I have to say that not all the drivers are bad. Some of them are very cool, calm and collected while putting up with the many ignorant DC drivers that they encounter during the day.

 

I have seen alot of them with Kenworth buckles and driving gloves. I am very wary of them.

 

i have been a transit driver for almost 6 years(and proud to admit that i am ranked #7 in the nation). no that isnt part of our training. some are not very courteous i will admit, but from our side, who wants to be stuck behind a bus? we stop constantly, so no one will let us merge, change lanes, or get out of a parking lot, so sometimes we have to be a tad aggressive.

 

I should have known YOU were one of them!!!!



I know nobody wants to be behind the buses and it can be difficult for the driver to get back into traffic after picking up passengers but some of these guys are just really bad. I always get in the left lane as soon as I see a bus so I don't have to worry about it. Yesterday it didn't matter though.......

 

Back in the 70's I used to be a mechanic for SCRTD Southern California Rapid Transit District and we had to have drivers training "Drivers style" to learn how to drive like a bus driver and some of the things we were taught was to look, signal and pull out, the traffic will wait for you.

You really cannot wait around for traffic to let you in, you are on a schedule and have to be at a certain stop at an exact minuet and if you are late you can be written up.

Also that if you have a coach full of passengers and you are going through an intersection and a car pulls in front of you, do you:
(A) Slam on the brakes to try and avoid the car?
Or
(B) Hit the car full force?
The answer is "B"
You do not slam on your brakes.
They would rather pay for the 4 dead people in the car you hit than pay for the 48 living passengers in the coach witch everyone will sue the transit company for all kinds of injuries.

Most bus companies are self insured, As a mechanic they always gave me the road calls, I would go and tow in the coaches with our tow truck, It was common to have 5-6 accidents a day just at our division (we had around 15 divisions back then) Sometimes I would be gone all day driving the rig, that is what made my job fun. I drove a new R7000 Mack tow truck with a Holmes 770 bed; it was powered with a 903 Cummins twin turbo & Roadranger transmission. The truck had lots of torque; I pulled a Neolpan 9900 Double Deck bus with all of the brakes locked from an accident scene.

Jim

 

DC buses are BAD, I have seen on the news over the past year about half a dozen people taken out by those guys! Of course part of the responsibility lies with the knuckle head who didnt notice a Mass Transit Bus.

 

Well, I guess that makes Washington State progressive. It's the law, and you're reminded of it on the back billboard of buses, that you MUST yield to buses reentering traffic. I guess we're lucky in this little hick town, most of the bus (transit and school) drivers are courteous and for my part, I try to be the careful driver, remembering, their vehicle is BIGGER than my baby.