A car smashed into my bus.

[Zerok]

Short Version:

A car sped out of control this morning and collided with the bus I was riding in. The damage was insane, no one was hurt, but the car was obliterated and I was late for work. It was pretty intense and surreal to witness. I have no pictures.

Literary Version:

So there I was, slipping into the neutral gear in my brain as I enjoyed the temporary foot rest the empty bus seats created. It was the 10:30am bus out to town, and we hadn’t gone through the denser parts of my area yet so the bus was pretty empty. I watched the ocean skip past out the window on my left as the bus gathered speed around a lazy turn.

The peace was shattered smoothly. I noticed a red car barrelling down the apron of the road towards us, then it swerved causally into the corner of the bus, as if the driver had decided the apron was no place to be driving and exaggeratingly over compensated. (Afterwards, the bus driver explained that he saw her swerving wildly beforehand. I just caught the last swerve). Even with my headphones on, the noise was tremendous. A single WHUMP! And screams. Whether the screams came before, during, or after the collision is impossible to remember. The bus is like a tank, and merely shuddered as the car flew into it. It was a newer model Cavalier, and it slammed violently into the guardrail (saving the driver from going into the drink) and came to a sick and titled rest facing the wrong way on the left hand side of the road.

I called 911 while looking out the back window, disbelieving of the incredible amount of damage done to the car. It was DEMOLISHED. From my vantage point on the bus, it looked terrible. It was akin to a really good NasCar smashup. The debris was littered all over the place; some of it was still bouncing around erratically like dropped footballs.

The driver turned out to be a very young girl. The temporary license was visible from behind the spiderwebs that were once a windshield. She got out and ran aimlessly to the sidewalk, clearly extremely distraught. A van had pulled up and the couple inside comforted her as I completed the call with the police.

I got off the bus and inspected the damage up close. I wish my phone had a camera… it was incredible. The entire front body was missing (I later found most of it wedged beneath the tire of the bus). The hood was crumpled up and you could see the engine assembly (what was left of it) clearly. The radiator was smushed and limp like cookie dough, bleeding its strange pink blood. Steam floated out from the manifold and battery acid stunk up the air. The sturdy AC Delco battery had been torn in half. Ignition wires hung off to the side. The fender was now a crooked ‘V’.

Inside, a testimony to modern safety technology. The driver’s side was more or less okay: both front doors opened and shut like new. The airbags had deployed cleanly. The left rear of the car was crumpled in from where she smoked the guardrail. A real mess. Family members of the girl arrived along with the fire truck, two police cars and an ambulance. They carried the driver off in a stretcher: mandatory to check her out, you know?

So I waited around and avoided the media. Then I caught another bus that was taking the new detour around. And that was my exciting morning. If nothing else happened in the city, it might make front page tomorrow.

Here’s a picture of the way it went down, bird’s eye view. It’s shitty, but it’s all the effort I felt like expending. The yellow dotted path of the car is what I saw; the red represents the bus driver’s recollection. You figure out the rest.

[Hierophant]

Hot shit. Short is better.

[DrWurm]

I was pretty sure what you said until i saw the pic... now i'm confused...

[BurritoGlock]

Snapple.

[the-impulsiv]

Wow good job! The pictures were funny though. Funny.

[RoobyKillAll]

Once, while attending summer school a few years back, our bus pulled into the drop off zone, and ended up sideswiping a public transit bus. Tore the mirror off, and smashes out the windshield and such. Hilarious, really.

[Maus]

WOW.

I've been on two city buses that have been hit by a car, but nothing as dramatic as that. Glad everyone was more or less okay. Yikes.

[Hierophant]

At 6/28/06 11:34 PM, _Lost_Soul_ wrote: Wonderful pic..BTW how do you upload big pics?

You don't.

[Torkelson]

At 6/28/06 11:34 PM, _Lost_Soul_ wrote: Wonderful pic..BTW how do you upload big pics?

My thought's exactly. I though Tom, Wade and Stamper (and other Admins or what ever) were the only peoply who could do that. Or is that a knew Addition to the Mods pluses?

[HeinousDude]

WOMEN DRIVERS.

Was she on the phone too?

[Lost-Soul]

One time a guy hit us and it was a hit and run thing man it sucked!

[API]

Wow. Heavy stuff. I've seen a 18 wheeler tip over while coming off of an exit before.

Sparks a flyin'.

[Jagazaar]

Wow, that must have been shocking, to say the least.....are you feeling ok after experiencing something like that?

Also, did your boss believe the story and let you off the hook?

[X-Naut]

A woman driver. :\
Wonderful pic by the way.

At 6/28/06 11:38 PM, Torkelson wrote: Or is that a knew Addition to the Mods pluses?

It's new.

[TropicalParadise]

As long as you're okay, that's all that matters, and I don't mean it as empty words. What a horrible experience for the poor girl though, if she's only been driving a while.

[Zerok]

At 6/28/06 11:36 PM, RoobyKillAll wrote: Once, while attending summer school a few years back, our bus pulled into the drop off zone, and ended up sideswiping a public transit bus. Tore the mirror off, and smashes out the windshield and such. Hilarious, really.

Oh yeah, I forgot to describe the damage to the bus.
It was spookly minimal. The headlight was busted out, a nice three wide wide and one foot deep dent right before the wheel well, which was a little warped. A few jagged holes. And that was all.

Had we beed a few seconds earlier she would have gone head on. Possibly killing herself and the bus driver.

At 6/28/06 11:39 PM, Jagazaar wrote: Wow, that must have been shocking, to say the least.....are you feeling ok after experiencing something like that?

Heh, yeah.
Just as it happened I was like, "FUCK, did that really just happen?"
*Look out back window*
"Shit, it did."
*911*

I was fine though. As soon as the girl got out and proved she wasn't a pulp all the adrenaline just sort of floated away.

Also, did your boss believe the story and let you off the hook?

Oh yeah. My boss is hella cool. He wanted to know all the gory details when I got in.

[LittleMissVixen]

You're really lucky.
One time, I was in the car and a truck smashed into my car. Funnnnnn.
Glad to hear everything is okay though. =)

[Funny-Man]

Holy shit, sounds pretty intense to me!

[Monocrom]

At 6/28/06 11:48 PM, Zerok wrote: Oh yeah. My boss is hella cool. He wanted to know all the gory details when I got in.

Well at least you're okay, that's the main thing.

P.S. - Sorry about the crappy topic I created. I usually don't miss THAT badly.

[Ozcar]

At 6/28/06 11:33 PM, Zerok wrote: I have no pictures.

* Remember to myself: Buy Zerok a digital camera these Xmas...

Literary Version:

TLDR

[PERVOK]

Wow, thats fucking intense.

[Zerok]

At 6/29/06 12:21 AM, Monocrom wrote: Well at least you're okay, that's the main thing.

When we were walking to the replacement bus, these dumbass bitches behind who were also on the bus had a conversation like this:

"Man when that car hit I totally was bumped out of my seat!"
"Yeah, me too!"
"My neck sort of hurts, but I didn't want to tell that to the people because then they'd make me talk to the ambulance people and shit."
"Yeah I know, I didn't want to say anything either."
*Conversation turns to high school and guys*

I was here thinking, soooo you didn't tell anyone you were hurt because then you'd have to have the professionals check you out and make sure you aren't permenantly fucked for life. Ah, good call girls. Good call.

Morons.

P.S. - Sorry about the crappy topic I created. I usually don't miss THAT badly.

Dust under the rug buddy.
We all do it.

[TropicalParadise]

At 6/29/06 12:26 AM, Zerok wrote:
I was here thinking, soooo you didn't tell anyone you were hurt because then you'd have to have the professionals check you out and make sure you aren't permenantly fucked for life. Ah, good call girls. Good call.

If they are partially paralyzed you can sit and laugh at them. But it could be just whiplash, if it's not hurting enough for them to make a big deal about it, then it's likely it's not anything permanent.

[Maus]

At 6/29/06 12:26 AM, Zerok wrote: We all do it.

LOL. Do we ever! :D

[Aksumka]

Love that pic! The detail is wonderful, and it is so easy to tell what you are saying.

[TitanFist]

How thefuck are people able to drive so aimlessly?!?
WTF WAS THAT BITCH IN THE CAR DOING??
*rant**rant**rant**rant**rant**rant**rant*
*rant**rant*

[Zerok]

At 6/29/06 12:34 AM, TropicalParadise wrote: But it could be just whiplash, if it's not hurting enough for them to make a big deal about it, then it's likely it's not anything permanent.

Whiplash can be permanent.
Whiplash can feel like a small nagging pain, and just be there for the rest of your life.

:(

At 6/29/06 12:42 AM, Tribunal_To_the_Dead wrote: How thefuck are people able to drive so aimlessly?!?
WTF WAS THAT BITCH IN THE CAR DOING??
*rant**rant**rant**rant**rant**rant**rant*
*rant**rant*

I don't know. She wasn't going so fast as to lose control, at least I wouldn't think.
I'm guessing she was inexperienced, took the turn way too fast for herself, panicked, and over compensated wildly when she hit the dirt apron and saw the guardrail coming.

Going fast on gravel is loud, and she was swerving beforehand, so she must have been in a state of terror. Then the bus made that all better.

>_>

[Zerok]

At 6/29/06 12:49 AM, one-night-alt wrote: Very detailed, yet it seems a little to detailed O_o

sound fake, but w/e :)

Luckily I don't need glamourous stories to validate myself on these boards.
If the newspaper runs the story tomorrow, I'll try to scan a picture/link.

[Bolo]

At 6/28/06 11:34 PM, _Lost_Soul_ wrote: Wonderful pic..BTW how do you upload big pics?

magically become a mod!

[Mind-Edge]

Must have been quite the sight