Accident Before and After - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

aerostealth · 12-10-2015, 12:12 PM

On Tuesday December 8th, my wife was driving our son to work in our 2014 Ford XLT Super Crew Cab PU truck when she had to stop quickly behind a school bus. The bus then proceeded to back up and before Lana could get the truck into reverse to avoid it the bus crashed into the front of our truck.

The truck is in El Paso right now being repaired. The collision center in Las Cruces, NM is busy with hail damaged vehicles so they farmed it out to one of their centers in El Paso, TX. We think most of the damage is just cosmetic but it won't be cheap to fix.

Needless to say this accident has not improved the aerodynamics of our vehicle. Right now we are driving a GM Terrain rental SUV. Not bad fuel mpg for what it is. Got 32 mpg on the hwy at 70 mph. Seen as high as 35 mpg at 55 mph. The average dropped to 22 mpg in town.

BabyDiesel · 12-10-2015, 12:30 PM

Glad that your family is okay aerostealth!

Hopefully the NM State Gov't will be paying for the damages. It sounds like the cause was the bus driver's failure to pay attention to what was behind them.

Hersbird · 12-10-2015, 01:23 PM

What idiot backs up a school bus? Luckily they just damaged some property and didn't kill a kid. We are ready trained not to back up our little mail trucks. If we have no other choice we have to get out and look before backing.

ksa8907 · 12-10-2015, 02:43 PM

Backing anything larger than a pickup truck is a terrible idea without a spotter. Gald your family is ok.

UFO · 12-10-2015, 03:11 PM

That same thing happened to my pickup. The driver that backed into me had insurance, but the repair shop used substandard parts and now my lower apron is completely rusted out after 5 years.

ninetynineSC2 · 12-10-2015, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hersbird

What idiot backs up a school bus? Luckily they just damaged some property and didn't kill a kid. We are ready trained not to back up our little mail trucks. If we have no other choice we have to get out and look before backing.

Uhhh...My bus driver backed out of multiple driveways every day and never had an issue. It's fairly common here for them to use farm driveways to back out so they can turn around.

Hersbird · 12-14-2015, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninetynineSC2

Uhhh...My bus driver backed out of multiple driveways every day and never had an issue. It's fairly common here for them to use farm driveways to back out so they can turn around.

Was the bus long or short? Just kidding! How many times does the bus need to turn around in a day? Worst case it should be one time at the extent of the route to come back the other way. They should look for that spot to be some kind of point where the bus can do it without backing up. If they are driving the bus down each driveway rather then stopping out on the road then it must have been the short bus.
Even if they have to back up the bus 100 times a day they need to do it safely and the only way is by getting out and looking. You can't see a F150 you can't see a kid back there for sure.

aerostealth · 12-14-2015, 05:43 PM

Driver was not turning around. She was backing up on the main highway after stopping. It was not the smartest move a busdriver can maken.

ninetynineSC2 · 12-14-2015, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Was the bus long or short? Just kidding! How many times does the bus need to turn around in a day? Worst case it should be one time at the extent of the route to come back the other way. They should look for that spot to be some kind of point where the bus can do it without backing up. If they are driving the bus down each driveway rather then stopping out on the road then it must have been the short bus.
Even if they have to back up the bus 100 times a day they need to do it safely and the only way is by getting out and looking. You can't see a F150 you can't see a kid back there for sure.

Definitely a long bus. Had all the farm kids so it was backing onto a gravel road every time anyway.

Xist · 12-15-2015, 07:59 AM

I am glad that everyone is okay.

I drove a school bus for five and a half years. We were told to never back up, but sometimes it is unavoidable. Parents always parked in the bus-only area and then got upset when we boxed them in. At one school, we needed to do three-point turns in an area just big enough to turn around, because parents insisted on parking there.

Why was the driver even stopping on the main highway, let alone backing up?

He or she must need an unpaid vacation!