Date:         Wed, 12 Oct 1994 08:00:20 -0800 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         John Ritchie <ritchiej@ucs.orst.edu>
Subject:      Re: Small on Safety (buses)


> 
> 
> RE: Andy's smacked bus saga.

Well, Andy's tale helps warm the hearts of us intrepid bus drivers, but I
think this statement:

> 
> Well said chap. They're as safe as houses. After all how many other cars do

is going a bit too far!  (No offense meant, Neal!)

To provide counterpoint to Andy's tale, and to reinforce what we ALL know
about driving around with a sheet of tinfoil between us and the car in front,
here's an anecdote about a co-worker of mine.

This guy bought a brand-new VW bus (back in the 70's sometime) and was driving
it for one of the first times at night when he popped over a hill to be
head-on'ed by a drunk driver.  I don't know how fast they were going but the
section where it happened has a 50MPH speed limit so I suspect it was pretty
fast.  Both the man and his wife spent months in the hospital having their
legs rebuilt, the drunk driver got off with minor injuries (I don't know what
she was driving).

Despite reassuring tales to the contrary I think there are few cars I would
want to be in _less_ than my bus when it comes time for head-on collisions.
Driving the bus has taught me more about following distance than years of
driving other vehicles (especially with the bus brakes!  Yipe!).  I think the
only thing that a bus has going for it when it comes time for a head-on is
that it's so high that you're less likely to be killed, but Goodbye legs!

Now, a tail-ender might be a different story.  Or from the side, who knows?
I would think the bus would stand up pretty well to collisions from anywhere
but the front.

John (Doom and Gloom) Ritchie
ritchiej@ucs.orst.edu