GM Bill.

That's the whole idea of the BIG ASS signs all over the place man! For people that are "unfamiliar" with the area.

I can see involuntary manslaughter charges pending against this guy. Very unfortunate situation. He must feel extremely terrible since it's all on him.

20mph and two people killed. Hard to imagine that but it happened.

Maybe it would help if he could read English, we know speaking English isn't required.

Where does it say he couldn't read English? I see people disobeying road signs daily. It doesn't mean they can't read them.

gm Creek Dog

You're probably right. The tour company has the deeper pockets, but the driver will be the one thrown under the bus.

the driver needs thrown under the bus. he is after all the one ultimately responsible.

gm creek dog and Bill.

btw bill they get that fire under control out your way?

notice, no background on this driver, besides all the warning signs, he could not even judge the height of the opening, this guy is a idiot, the company must hire off the street drivers, next question what class of license does the driver hold.

I'm not into the sad details, but I would like to know how anyone died with the bus going only 20mph. If it wasn't a double-decker bus, ie, no one sitting up high enough to get struck in the head, how did they die? One man was 86, so it may have been heart related.

Very sad regardless.

Judging by the name, the probabilities of pay rate, testing etc, you gotta figure this guy No Habla Ingles. The signs are in the predominant language used in the land for 300 years. The signs must be at fault. When we enforce the vernacular as a requirement for hiring, then we avoid such tragedies.

MRI.. the seats on those types of buses sit up high.. if you can see how high the windows are, that's how elevated the people would have been. Cars and buses are meant to crumble nowadays, I imagine those killed were first/second row. What I have a problem with, is even if you are lost.. how can you NOT see those signs!!

gm again, Tramp

The fire is at Fern Lake, in the middle of Rocky Mountain National Park. The combination of remote access and hih winds are making it tough on firefighters. It's not under control.

WE have all ended up in areas unfamiliar to us......

BUT HOW DO YOU MISS SEEING A BRIDGE and NOT realize you have a high profile vehicle !!!

smell to me to "cover up" from the police to the company owners, maybe some kind of friendship, relatives, etc. left space to the attorneys to play "non guilty" and the company for hire this stupid driver is Guilty 100% !

putted through there few years back Bill...serious bummer. dont know much about the jet streams and weather patterns out your way but hopefully the storms in ca will help

I have never been in the drivers seat of a modern bus, but you would think there would be a large sign by the driver saying how tall the bus is so you would know what the bus could and could not clear when approaching a bridge.

The guy probably couldn't read ENGLISH!!!!!!!! What else is new!!!!!!!!!! They all drive down here either illegally or they can't read the street signs. God only knows how they obtain their license.

baco78

smell to me to "cover up" from the police to the company owners, maybe some kind of friendship, relatives, etc. left space to the attorneys to play "non guilty" and the company for hire this stupid driver is Guilty 100% !

Um Baco.......Do you drive a bus prechance?......

If you watch the video, you see the driver is not speaking English.

Rocky

what video of the..... D-R-I-V-E-R ?

Good one Rocky Oxy!

I.A. Scotter... Just a clever way to make you watch the video if you haven't and notice that the driver isn't featured, therefor - he isn't speaking English or any language for that matter.

Hi Scooter, DB, Creek Dog

This was a accident that could have been prevented!!!! Its sad to say but maybe if the signs had been in his language he would have stopped!!!! DOT law is you have to be able to READ, WRITE, AND SPEAK ENGLISH to hold a CDL in the US!!!!!!! Apparently he could not do any of the 3. And he should be held responsible!!!! Even if he could not read english, a kid would have know the bus would not fit under a 8ft 6in bridge!!!!

I'm not into the sad details, but I would like to know how anyone died with the bus going only 20mph. If it wasn't a double-decker bus, ie, no one sitting up high enough to get struck in the head, how did they die? One man was 86, so it may have been heart related.

Do you see where the windows are and the height of the bridge girder? I'd say very likely the the deaths occurred in the front row most likely from impact. Many of these buses are setup with the driver sitting low in the front and the passengers up higher above the driver. Very sad.

Scooter,

The first vid at the top has him in there for a sec.

Rocky,

Understood but that doesn't mean he cannot read it. Also, you'd be surprised at how many Spanish speaking people can understand English when spoken to but cannot speak the language. Strange but true.

screminmimi,

How you doin man....

Have a nice day...

gm screamin

did you see the articles that were " removed by the vine community" this AM? i mean really WTF is up with that?

creek

didnt catch it. dang old computer of mine is have serious trouble with sound now.

How in the hell did the driver not realize that the bus would not fit under that overhead. I mean even if he could not read English, which fairly is likely, any idiot could judge that the bus was not going to fit. That said, it should be a requirement to be able to read English in order to get a drivers license, particularly a commercial one. After all, most road signs in this country are only in English and for safety drivers should be required to be able to read them. This is particularly true of non-standard caution signs like the ones in this case where there is no international symbol sign. While most standard road signs now also include standard international symbols, like do not enter signs, yield signs, pedestrian crossing, etc. there is no such thing for location specific signs like the ones shown for this situation.

The driver will likely end up facing involuntary manslaughter charges for the passengers that died in the crash. I am sure there will also be a check to make sure he held the appropriate class of license to be driving the bus and if not the bus company will face charges as well. If the driver did not have the proper class of license the bus company will likely face charges of negligent homicide. In any case, the bus company is going to be facing some very large civil suits as a result of this accident.

For those asking about how people could be killed in this slow speed accident, it is pretty easy to have happen. First off, the g-forces involved even at 20 mph when you hit a completely rigid obstruction like the overhead can be fairly significant. Second, on these big tour buses many people do not wear their seat belts and a lot of these types of buses do not have shoulder belts so a person's head can easily go forward and hit the seat back in front of them.

From what i hear from the one lady on the video, it seems like the driver ended up at the airport by mistake, i am guessing that he missed all the other signs and that is how he already took one wrong turn to end up in the airport, and while driving through the airport, missed reading the other signs. My guess is, he probably missed six or more signs altogether, and then the last two signs were the last. You cant miss that last sign, 20mph? i dont think so. A human can sprint faster than that. He had to be going a little bit faster.

I agree with those asking for the driver to face manslaughter charges. Not knowing English is not a good excuse. Driving tests are given in English so he has to know enough to get his license. Anyone with a bus license should be able to judge the height of the bus to know if it would get under the overpass anyway. I hope he goes to jail. He is responsible for the lives lost and injuries. Maybe he wasn't drunk, but he should be tried for stupidity.

LeisaD, In Florida they give Drivers License Questions and Tests in numerous languages, English,Spanish, Vietnamese and Creole to name a few, the Dept. of Motor vehicles also allows an interpreter for any foreigners that does not read English or speak English !! To me that is one huge mistake, if you can't read or speak how can you follow the rules of the road??

I agree, Marilyn. The State of Florida is at fault. They should require anyone applying for a driver's license to be fluent in the English language.

Unfamiliar my rear end... how can you not see you are entering a very low clearance area? Maybe he was overly 'medicated'...

and look at that picture, how many more signs were needed.the guy was just stupid.

Even with NO signs at all, was he blind? Look at the people standing near the bus. Gauge the height of the humans, and look again at the bus. EVERY bus has a height too tall for this tunnel. If there was a bulldozer in the road, would you need a sign telling you to drive around the bulldozer? If you are so dumb you need a sign to tell you your vehicle won't fit....why are you behind the wheel.

This is not a signage issue, not a language problem, not a "familiarity" situation. It is a common sense problem.

Should I believe that those of you who have commented negatively toward the bus driver have never made a single, terrible mistake or showed a considerable lack of judgment or cool-headed common sense under pressure/adversity? I would say that almost all of us have made some very stupid, thoughtless mistakes at some point, often with harsh consequences. Furthermore, this guy accidentally killed 2 people and injured many others. I can only imagine how heart broken he is, and the life-long burden that will lay on his shoulders because he is responsible for these deaths. I feel compassion for him, the victims and their families. This is an accident and a tragedy. This is not a time to pass judgment, or cast stones.... unless, that is, you happen to be perfect.

I don't blame the driver. I blame the bus company that hired him and the Congress of this country that refuses to say that English is the prevailing language of the United States of America.

No one should be allowed a license to drive unless they read, write, speak and FULLY COMPREHEND the English language because that is what the road signs are written in.

Yes, there are "drawings" and numbers that designate illustrate the signs and height and weight measurements, but if you don't understand them, you are potentially a lethal weapon on the roads and highways.... such as the Hispanic woman who ran down to children in a crosswalk a couple of years ago and jumped out of the car cursing the dying child on the ground for being in the way.

he cant see huge sings and flashing lights yet an alarm would work?

100% preventable. How about an I.Q. test for drivers? What road do YOU drive on that requires a sign for every possible road hazard?

Scooter, most times I'm 100% right there with you.

But I'm looking at the picture and I'm putting myself in the seat with the driver.... if the driver isn't that familiar with the route, and he isn't that familiar with the bus itself....

he's sitting in that seat and from where he looks out, it might be kinda easy to forget that above and sort of behind his field of vision the bus extends upward a couple of more feet.

Before you laugh me off the Vine, just consider how many people in this country have misjudged the opening garage door of their own home by a few inches and crowned the top of their car because they had been able to do it without incident a thousand times before... but this one time they misjudged?

Just a thought. Usually I'm all for blaming the driver and I have a "thing" about the non-English speaking immigrants. But this business about giving licenses to illegals and non-English speaking people who don't understand our road signs is going to make our highways a coast to coast killing field with a "no fault" closure for the families and victims left behind. It's a nightmare in the making and the people who hire them should shoulder the consequences.

wouldnt laugh at ya screamin, with ya certainly.... but never at ya.

Now imagine the bus extends up another 6 feet.

Must have been looking at a web 'site'. If he had looked out the front of the bus the sign would have been in plain 'sight'. Maybe someone else needs help with english.

Give this bus driver a break...since he snuck across the border he hasn't had time to master our complicated system of driving rules, or to learn how to read English

Mike, I can't answer for the bus driver.. But I would think he or anyone else driving, would be very sorry for the loss and injury.. If the reporter would have looked at the bus from the front, he would have seen headlights only on the lower front bumper (small intensely bright ones).. So, the driver didn't even see the overhang coming at him, with the way the road was being lit by those headlamps.. But THIS KIND OF ACCIDENT HAS HAPPENED MANY TIMES BEFORE, yes? It is preventable in this day and age.. Perhaps the News Media will follow up and see that it was preventable too?

And the huge yellow warning signs and flashing lights affixed to the overhang, he didn't see those either? This accident also didn't happen in pitch-blackness, the airport is well lit; making your argument in reference to the type of headlights on the bus completely irrelevant. Any lights that would have illuminated the overhang would constantly blind oncoming drivers.

This is nothing more than a case of irresponsible, careless stupidty that cost two innocent people their lives. The real question here is why are you so determined to defend this criminally negligent sap?

You are completely missing the point.. It would have made no difference who, or what, was driving the bus. Rain, snow, low flying crows, day, night, huge yellow signage or otherwise.. With the correct underwritten sensor mounted on the top of the bus, it would have alerted the operator by sounding an alarm, disengaging the transmission, applying the brakes. Any Or ALL of those actions AUTOMATICALLY.. Hands Free.. Even if Osama bin Laden was driving.. And we are not talking rocket science.. These safety items are readily available and out there.. This kind of accident is 100% PREVENTABLE...

In order to allow even stupider drivers behind the wheel? Even with no signs, this man should have seen the low ceiling and stopped. This isn't your stupid aunt Tillie in her Prius, chatting with Matilda in the back seat. This is a (supposedly) professional driver with training and enough ability to pass his D.O.T. test. Which is a lot harder than a regular driver's license test.

Another 10 million dollars in tax money per week to engineer and install a device that would allow a monkey to drive a bus? I can see you don't have a job or pay taxes. safety device my ass.

Indeed, a very tragic and sad thing, but is was just and accident. That is a good reminder for us all to be careful while driving. Even wise king Solomon mentioned in Ecclesiastes 9:11 that" time and unforeseen occurrence befall us al"l(New World Translation). So yes, is sad and preventable but then again just an accident.

Steve the dog man,

i guess you feel the same way about air bags and horns as well?

Yes, I feel that way about air bags. Horns...?? You mean like the vehicle horn, or warning horns, sirens, etc. Encouraging stupid people by trying to protect them and those around them by mechanical means is a joke. This is not a simple driver. This is a professional with a D.O.T. license. No sign or warning device is needed when you know the height of your bus by merely LOOKING at it before you get in. You can clearly see the tunnel ceiling is about 3 feet short of the top of the bus. Anyone who is so stupid they can't figure this out will not be saved by warning devices. Learn to drive, act responsibly and use your intelligence. Air bags!!! Put in place for idiots who won't buckle their belts. Who can't drive competently. I can tell you that if I wrote the drivers license exam and test....there would be none of this bullshipping.

Any slower than 20mph and they wouldn't be moving, but I get what you're saying.

When I am in a 12 foot tall bus and I see an 8 ft 6" hole, I stop. No device, sign, magic viewfinder or lucky rabbits foot will save you from stupid. At any speed. If you are this dumb, 8 mph is too fast.

Amen to that! I drove for 20 years and was 'unfamiliar' with most of the areas I delivered to. YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION. You have to realize how tall your vehicle is. Don't bus drivers have to have special licenses like truck drivers?

Could it be that maybe he was thinking metrically rather than using feet/inches?

Sure. Could have meant 8.6 Kilometers. Or...8.6 Meters is 30 feet. Maybe 8.6 millimeters.

JP

Prerequisite for getting any driver's license is the ability read

is that why the course's are now taught and tests given in Mexican?....er i mean Spanish ( forgot to be P.C. for a moment there, heaven forbid that happen)

So, essentially you're implying that in the metric world, it's entirely possible to fit a 3.5 tall meter bus under a 3 meter tall overpass? Or that he simply assumed the overpass had almost 9 meters (approx. 3 stories) of clearance?

Perhaps this driver isn't nearly as ignorant as his simpering apologists.

Well Well Well, Mjolnir, aren't you just one joyous peach? You know that it is possible to correct someone without being a complete jerk right? Or does that just make you feel better and superior? No apologists here, just saying that it might be possible.

What might be possible is that the retard driver VISUALLY SAW the low ceiling and didn't have the common sense God gave a drunk monkey. He is required to have a passenger-certified D.O.T. license. He is required to have enough brains to see something that is TOO SHORT for him to pass under. This is the guy in the olympics who would drop to all 4's and try to crawl UNDER the hurdles.

And you think he is perfectly justified. So...who's the jerk?

Despite my being a complete jerk, do you feel in any way "corrected"? I didn't think so...

It's a weakness of mine to respond strongly when I read ignorant, thoughtless drivel. If I think that rational demonstration or logical consideration have the capability to positively impact a willfully irresponsible attitude, I retain the ability to be quite sensitive.

After reading your original post, it was obvious that such sensitivity would have been absolutely futile. Does this make me feel superior? Not superior to everyone to be sure, but to others... certainly.

I guess you're no teacher then. It is not better to educate than insult? Math isn't my strong suit, I prefer literature, foreign languages, history, and the fine arts. So if you would like to be civil that would be nice, but then again as you said...

Dog man, I never said his accident should be justified, simply that accidents happen for what ever reason. I voiced a possible reason just as many others did, I just simply didn't add all of the pitiful insults aimed at the driver. He's killed two people, I'm willing to bet he has a lot on his mind and can insult and degrade himself enough to get the job done.

and think

......

Huh?

kinda what i thought Todd, i figure he didn't read the article and figures the passenger in the video / picture was the driver. ...

Such a device would not work in Miami; any sort of contact with another vehicle or structure stimulates the foot to depress the gas pedal to the floor in an attempt to escape responsibility.

Such an incident occured one night before this incident, in Miami. The driver of a flatbed transporting a huge excavator illegally drove under an overpass and began crushing the supports. He didn't stop when it was apparent his load wouldn't fit, he accelerated in an attempt to flee. So, not only one support was damaged, but all the supporting beams under an 8-lane overpass were severely damaged, forcing the closure of the entire expressway.

I smell IMIGRANT from hispanic or haitian background and underpaiment for his company bosses, is Miami were everything is posible, Miami and Chicago are full in corrupt people. SUE THE COMPANY !

I've been there, Larry...the speed limit is about 20 and how long do you need to react? He never touched the brakes.

When you come around that slight curve (not a corner), there is a sign with a illustration of a bus and an arrow pointing left. No ability to read is needed. You then pass another bright yellow sign indicating low clearance as you approach the huge warning sign with flashing lights.

After you come around the curve you have 180 ft. to make a decision, the overpass is clearly marked and is in no way obscured. At 30 Feet per second (20 MPH) this gives you approx. 6 seconds to either turn left (at yet another turn-off for overheight vehicles) or plow into the solid steel overpass. It's not rocket science, it's simply driving.

Unfortunately, this driver chose to ignore every warning and opportunity to protect the passengers that relied upon his skill for their safety.

What's an even bigger question is what the heck was he doing at the airport? THat's not the way to Wesp Palm Beach from where they started out. How on earth did he end up at the airport? How on earth did he NOT see those big bright signs? Why did he ignor the passengers screaming at him to stop and back up that he was going the wrong way? Sad.

Nobody commenting has ever been total over whelmed by the road signs in construction zones? Never taken a wrong turn and ended up someplace you didn't expect? Heck last time I came into DFW on a rainy night, I turned the wrong way onto a frontage road due to poor signage in a construction zone.. It happens.

Ken Nugent. One Call, That's All. One Click, That's It. (888) 579-1790 Personal Injury Law at its slimiest.

sokolove law or the goldwater firm as well, their motto is basically ....we will sue anyone anywhere for any reason...but read the fine print , they hand it off to a local ambulance chaser and then take a cut for doing absolutely nothing.

The Law would be so simple if it wasn't for lawyers. I wonder how much they spend on advertising their "services"? I notice most of their commercials are on during the afternoon talk shows and are aimed at folks who aren't working. I guess you don't need to work when you can sue your way to happiness!

pretty unfair all right...if we were to offer those same "services" we would be called gigolo's and thrown in jail.

Morgan and Morgan...for the people....ughhhh

More like for YOUR money, not necessarily good representation

Always people eager to blame anyone except who is responsible.

There is another road over the top, and unless they want to build a ramp so people can fly through the air, that is the necessary clearance. This is why they had an alternate route for buses, well marked. Even if the engineers were out to kill buses, what kind of idiot can't tell the tunnel is 1 1/2 feet (minimum) too short for his vehicle?

I have a Big size Van and don't fits inside the vast mayority of parking buildings and home garages, experience teach to DON'T EVER TRY ! "Unfamiliar" ? NO EXCUSES ! The bus company is responsable 100%

I fail to see how this is an engineering issue. All commercial drivers have a responsibility to know the height of their vehicles, and 8'6" reasonably accommodates almost all normal passenger vehicles; including a lot of small shuttle buses which I frequently see at airports around the US.

The overpass was not designed to accommodate double-decker buses. The operating company should be well aware of this fact.

i grew up with " in or out and quit banging the door" and i did....well doors anyway....

If the bus don't fit, you must acquit!

Unfortunately William, the saying that "stupid kills" is generally for those who kill themselves doing stupid things. This driver's stupidity killed those in no way responsible.

Mjolnir,

The driver was stupid, didn't see huge posted signs and people died. Stupid does kill and I didn't infer it had to be by someones own hand. Let's expand out thinking a little.

hahahahahahahaha......great one Todd........heres your cookie

Thanks Scooter! That's 2 cookies for Todd so far!

But the true question is, have you ever done anything idiotic in your life time? Everyone has, thankfully many of those don't happen to involve someone else dying, tho the guy who thought he could scare the hiccups out of his buddy by shooting him in the face was one of those instances.

Really? You actually think that's the "true question" in this case?