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Subscribe to RSSLA GRANDE, Ore. -- Nine people were killed and at least 20 others hospitalized on Sunday after a tour bus veered out of control on an icy stretch of freeway in eastern Oregon and rolled nearly 200 feet down an embankment, state police said.
State police reported that the driver apparently lost control of the charter bus around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84 and crashed through a guardrail before plunging down an embankment. The Oregonian newspaper reported that the bus tumbled nearly 200 feet before coming to a halt.
Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings told the newspaper that about 40 passengers were on the bus at the time of the crash, which occurred near milepost 227 on Interstate 84 near Deadman Pass, according to the East Oregonian newspaper.
Hastings told the East Oregonian that he learned the bus was returning to Las Vegas from British Columbia, Canada.
Rescue workers used ropes to help retrieve the injured from the scene. Westbound lanes of I-84 were closed.
The Oregonian said 18 passengers were transported to St. Anthony's Hospital in Pendleton, about 13 miles northwest of the crash scene. Hospital spokesman Larry Blanc would not say if or how many passengers sustained life-threatening injuries, it said.
Three fixed-wing aircraft also were on standby at the Pendleton airport if needed to transport injured to hospitals elsewhere, state police said.
Authorities did not immediately identify the operator of the charter bus.
Oregon State Police / Reuters
Rescue personnel respond to the scene of a charter bus crash on I-84, east of Pendleton, Ore. in this photo released on Dec. 30. Police said the bus may have gone out of control on the highway before crashing through a guardrail and down an embankment.
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Leave a Comment:
Not that it would have made a difference in THIS case, but......with as many accidents involving school buses & tour buses that occur every year....WHY the hell are seat belts STILL not required?
There's nothing that can be said for the people on the bus, nor others who continue to drive on ice. Condolences maybe . . .
Until you have experienced driving on icy roads there is a false sense of security. Once you've felt the car slip and maybe careen sideways and maybe off the road then you know driving on icy roads is something to be avoided at any cost. Nothing is worth this risk. Sure, you might not slip, but oncoming vehicles can break loose and slide into your path. Bad deal all around.
When are they going to ban these high capacity charter buses. If they were only allowed to carry no more than 5 or 10 passengers a lot less lives would be lost because they would have to re-load the bus more often.
Question:
Answer: Money
Ban high capacity buses. That's the ONLY answer. This easily could have taken out 40 innocent people in one shot. Allow only 10 people to a bus and make the drivers face mandatory federal bakground checks. Don't sell buses at bus shows. I think our best bet would be to ban diesel fuel though.
I drove a school bus and its the Democrats that don't want them. Made me furious at the time and
to this day. I am sure the Dems will figure a way to ban all bus's.
The blog above that says money, well that's a dang joke.. The cost is minimal...Economics 101 duh.
Once again, OUR CHILDREN aren't being taken care of and Seniors.. Its mostly Seniors on these Charter bus's. If D.C. had their way, they would take the lives from all Seniors. This way they could have all of their Social Security. Its a crime.
Dennis, I know what you mean. It has always baffled me that all the rest of us have to wear seltbelts, but everyday I put my kids on the schoolbus, no sealtbelts. Just one more way our kids are not protected in public.
Greyhound has seatbelts, why don't school buses? Cars are required to have seat belt, so should all buses.
pretty dumb suggestion there barry
Obviously it's time to ban all things with wheels. They go too fast.
I sincerely hope the idiots crying about banning buses are joking.
Scary. I'm surprised more didn't die.
Dan it's no more stupid than suggesting that gun control will stop someone from walking into a public building and killing dozens of people. His point may be stupid to you, but it's a well taken point in my opinion.
This is a breaking news story which many in my state are reading to get detail not yet broadcast on our local news (it's still just 4:30 pm here). And these comments are the contributions you folks have to offer?
It takes pretty sick minds, and a pathetic lack of humanity to offer sarcasm and farce and intellectually equate a tragic highway accident in bad weather, with acts of premeditated mass murder ...as if they are one in the same.
But then to put those thoughts in writing, and display that sick inhumanity in public for all to see says an enormous amount about your personal characters. I hope you all are pleased with yourselves.
Embarrass your families, much?
Really?? Kinda quick to judge, huh? No disrespect to the accident victims...just making a point. My humblest apologies.
The death toll in Sunday's bus crash near Pendleton has risen to nine, Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said.
The bus is owned by MiJoo Travel in Vancouver, Canada for anyone who may be interested in that info. There are also some pictures of the crash scene and the bus itself and it doesn't look pretty.
If anyone is interested in an update to this tragedy and anything else related to the story itself I will post a better web site to visit below. This link has way more info on the story as well.
I cannot believe what some people are posting here as I thought the comment section was suppose to be related to the story itself and not all the BS I have seen here or on other comments here at MSNBC. It would be nice to get back to adult conversation about the stories we are reading here and what people felt about the actual story itself but I won't hold my breath.
Here's that link folks,
http://www.eastoregonian.com/free/p-m-update-nine-die-in-bus-crash-many-more/article_92d1b37a-52b9-11e2-b39e-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=image&photo=5
This accident happened about 10 miles from my house. I live at the bottom of this Mountain, I know exactly where it happened, saw the first ambulance go past my house, and then about 6 more, along with fire trucks and other emergency vehicles. This Mountain range is very underestimated in the winter time and even the Summer months. The replies to this story are in my opinion horrendous! Blame the Government for a traffic accident with fatalities! Really? It's a Mountain range that gets heavy snow and ice with reader boards that state whether you need to chain up or have snow tires. If you're not prepared you don't go up Cabbage Hill, is that hard to understand? My concern are for the people that lost their lives, the first responders, police, emts/paramedics (who are related to me) and the families that lost their family members today. Take a look at the above link it shows what happened. Lives lost and my prayers are for all those that witnessed this accident and those that responded to it. Thank you muddiemike for the link. Yes, this Mountain range goes through my Reserve in Eastern Oregon and did not happen 50 miles away but approximately 14 miles East of Pendleton and 7 miles East of my home.
Abby Farrow-Stapleman, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reserve, Pendleton Oregon.
Jean:
Per http://stnonline.com/resources/seat-belts/seat-belt-faqs:
"Retrofitting assumes the underfloor of the bus is sound, and that's not necessarily the case. Road damage, rust and other weathering factors are known to weaken the underfloor after a couple of years. Since the seat which holds the seat belt is anchored to the floor, you can't be sure of the strength of the anchorage. Anyway, bus manufacturers have stated they won't assume any liability if their buses are retrofitted, and it is unlikely insurance companies will either.
Retrofiting is a very controversial subject. Mainly because no one knows the condition of the outside of the bus floor. Is there any rust? Road damage? Can the floor of an older bus offer the strength needed for seatbelt equipped seats to meet FMVSS 222? Those questions, most knowledgeable experts agree that seat belts should not be added or retrofitted to an older school bus unless the bus was originally manufactured "seat belt ready." This means it was built with stronger seats and additional reinforcement in the structure of the bus, including the anchorages that hold the seat to the floor to withstand the added "loading" of belted passengers during a crash. The cost to retrofit has been estimated by one bus manufacturer to range between $2,700 to $3,400 for a 66- to 78-passenger school bus, to a cost estimated to range between $5,000 to $11,000 per bus by an agency of the New Hampshire state government."
The cost to retrofit every school bus in the country is not minimal because they were not originally manufactured as "seat belt ready" and pose unknown risk not covered by insurance. Purchasing new buses which include seat belts would also become a great expense.
Just because you drove a school bus does not make you a financial expert. Maybe you should/should have spent more time doing your homework rather than blaming politics and using three letter words to show the extent of your learning.
As I continue to say, always, follow the money.
Thank you, Abby. We here in Walla Walla also know to avoid Cabbage Hill like the plague this time of year.
Professional drivers rarely if ever get to choose the route they drive or schedule when they drive.
It's a Canadian Tour Bus based out of Vancouver, BC. The accident has occurred on "Dead Man's Pass", a treacherous stretch of Interstate 84. It's an elevated ridge area of the freeway which gets wind gusts whipping over the roadway which often causes invisible 'black-ice' on the roadway, even in good weather conditions. Today the ground is covered in snow and ice.
Keep good thoughts for the many injured, some gravely, including the driver.
Debi-1314897 wrote:
Good grief, 'Debi.' Grow up. Is this really just another opportunity to you for one of your Newsvine pissing matches? Did you even notice that people have died, the death tol has been growing and others may yet not survive?
Once again you're coming off as a self-professed expert on every subject from bus construction to economics, who doesn't like to be contradicted. Clearly you didn't spend quite enough time stuffed into your hall locker in school to teach you that people really don't like "a know-it-all." Why not put a sock in it, for a change, and see if you can't find some humanity?
"Can't people just send sympathy to the families of the dead and good wishes to the wounded? This has nothing to do with guns or politics or anything other than a really terrible accident. This is just sad news about fellow human beings..."
You're right, and I'm sorry, so I'm sending sympathy to the families of the dead and good wishes to all of the injured, because if I had seniors, they'd look just like those seniors in the bus.
Barry
Great posts, Barry Soeetoro!
Robert in Oregon:
My, my, Robert. The post you are referring to didn't seem to have your name written on it, did it?. Is your nose just naturally caked brown or is it your habit sticking it up into other people's business when no invitation has been extended?
Learn your manners, boy. From the sound of your digressive and discursive post, your hypocrisy is showing.
Not requiring seat belts on school buses puts our children, who have no choice and no voice, at risk. Lack of seat belts is not, as an earlier poster proclaimed, "due to the Democrats"; it is because of money.
If you disagree, don't just flap your gums with three letter words such as "duh"; back it up with sources.
It makes me angry that money is taking precedence over the safety of our children.
Seatbelts, shmeetbelts... what were they doing driving on an icy road such as this to begin with!
The roads here in Oregon were fair this morning, and this is just one of dozens of these charter buses that run our highways. ODOT has been out for the last week plowing, sanding, and spraying the roads. It is very likely that a gust of wind, coupled with a spot or two of black ice led to the initial tractive failure. It's been overcast with low clouds, and all over central, and eastern Oregon, the roads will be fine in one area, and solid ice in the next. These bus accidents are extremely rare in our state. My condolences to the families that have lost loved ones today.
As for seat belts, it's not as simple as one might think. According to numerous studies conducted about seat belts on buses, it is actually safer not to have them on the school buses. I had a hard time believing that, until I read the several NTSB, NHTSA, USDOT, and various other sourced articles. If you've never had the opportunity to work on a bus, and haven't crawled in, under, and through one, it really isn't that simple. The coach frame is attached to the bus chassis, and there is only a floor with minimal places to affix seat belt brackets. I've personally worked on a few buses, and have done some safety inspections on them too. Our town recently had a bus hit by a car. The bus sustained pretty good damage, and not one child sustained physical injury. Depending on the design, seat belts can do more harm than good in some situations. While the seat belts kept my mom from being ejected, it also caused everything inside her torso to break, rupture, and fail upon impact, ultimately killing her from severe internal injury. Buses have to be built originally with seat belt provisions in order for them to be able to be fitted, and actually do the job the way they are intended. If you inspect the seat belt mounting points on a car, or pick up, you will see that it is several pieces of stamped steel, formed and welded specifically for that purpose.
Debi-1314897 Ignoring author
Right,'Debi', just double-down on the irrelevant rhetoric and ignore the actual story associated with this discussion thread.
A). This was not a school bus filled with school children.
B). You have no way of knowing whether seatbelts were present, or being used.
Get it? This is not a story about your personal politics, about school buses, about whether Democrats or Republicans care more about protecting school children or about school bus seatbelts.
What the hell is wrong with you that you derail nearly every story you comment about to instead head off on some tangent to talk about something else you prefer to talk about rather than the story associated with the discussion thread.
People have died, 'Debi.' Others may yet die. Get a clue!
It's Obama's fault. He said he would invest stimulus money into a new rail system. A Seattle to Reno train wouldn't have slipped on that Ice.
Guess you must have missed someone else's post I was responding to regarding school bus seat belts. You're barking up the wrong tree, Robert. Why am I not surprised?
And yes, people died. It's sad, but it's a part of the cycle of life. Get ahold of yourself. Your drama would be much better spent making a positive contribution to this planet instead of attempting to fritter it away on me.
It's called Deadman's Pass for a reason.
There could have had an air bag at every seat, and a net at the bottom of the hill, and the Grim Reaper would still be waiting with his weed whacker.
My condolences to the families, and my gratitude for the first responders and others who are tending to the dead and the injured, and to their families.
As for seat belts on school buses--kids need to be able to quickly evacuate a bus in an emergency without the driver's help, as in cases where the driver is incapacitated or dead.
Just as in a passenger vehicle accident, where the driver may be incapacitated or dead, the children in the back seat/seats must still be seat belted. Being in a bus shouldn't be any different.
As is currently, children can be thrown around in a bus accident and seat belts would prevent that from happening. It's the same reason they must wear them in a passenger vehicle.
My heart goes out to the familes and victims of the bus crash. I am a professional driver over 1.2 million safe miles and I 84 that was just before the scale on cabbage. You must always respect the weather, anytime the temps drop below 30 deg it is time to be finding a stopping point with the mositure that can be there on that deadmans pass. I read a previous comment about doing away with diesel ? really......well fact of the matter diesel is KING until you can manufacture a nuclear powered semi truck (pun is intentional). The capacity of people of a bus is like limited the amount of people that should be a plane. Moutain driving in winter is hazardous period. Oh as for routes, the DRIVER has the ulitmate say in the route when it is one thru a dangerous weather or pass.
Driving too fast for the road. Didn't want to do 20, or 25 miles an hour like he should have. He couldn't have kept his schedule.
Requiring seat belts would be an infringement upon our rights, isn't that correct conservatives?
Although I get you're trying to be cute, comparing an accident to deliberate murder involving high capacity assault rifles just proves your ignorance.
What use is a guard rail that does not stop a vehicle from going through it.
There has been a lot of research into guardrails and a well designed one can stop a loaded semi hitting at 45 degrees. Why aren't these tissue paper guardrails replaced?
Money is about the #3 reason seat belts are not installed on school buses. The top two reasons are:
1) You can't trust a bus full of close to fifty kids to use seat belts properly. A misused seat belt is often more dangerous than an unused seat belt. That's why governments require children to be carried in car seats and/or in the back seats of private vehicles.
2) The government has concluded that buses, and especially school buses, are up to 40 times safer than any other vehicle on the road. Bus seats aren't so close to one another just to make it uncomfortable for the passengers.
If you want to live your life in perfect safety with no chance of anything ever going wrong then build a bubble and live in that. Otherwise, you should do a little research into why most buses don't have safety belts before you start whining about the laws. Smaller school buses are required to have safety belts. There is a reason they are required and the larger ones aren't. If anyone would bother to research it before you start complaining it would make you look less stupid. If you disagree with the findings you should take that up with the appropriate legislatures. Not b!tch about it on an internet discussion board. But I would recommend having your facts in order before you start writing to your politicians.

@RTypo,
Requiring seat belts would not be an infringement on our rights. That is not proptected under the Bill of Rights to the US Constitution. GUN RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. You really should read and understand the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights before making such an idiotic statement.
Buses and cars could be banned from this country because they are not protected under the Bill of Rights. Yeah, they serve a good purpose, but they kill more people a year than firearms. Food also serves a good purpose but heart disease kills close to 600,000 people a year. Heart Disease is mostly caused by an unhealthy diet. So should we ban fast food and fried foods because they are not protected under the constitution and kill 60 times more people a year than firearms?
My understanding is that the weather conditions in the mountainous regions of Oregon are highly changeable. It can be clear and dry, then quickly deteriorate. We were thinking of moving there and drove out this summer to experience some of it. I too wonder about those guardrails, Ed, though I don't know what can stop a heavy bus once it careens out of control - guardrails are also for shoulder visibility and flimsy as they are, I appreciated seeing them when we found ourselves driving a camper along a long stretch of hazy mountain road past a controlled burn at 11:00 p.m. to reach our destination (never again!).
@ Abby 1.16 Glad to see someone giving a local perspective, I live in Idaho and drive truck down Cabbage all the time. Winter can always be full of surprises on the road, but have to say that Oregon does it's best to provide safety. They even put in radiant heat in one section between La Grande and Baker at Ladd canyon! They have cameras to view the road at some crucial spots also! Require chains , shut down the road etc., when conditions warrant it! I have to say that having experience driving in those conditions is the most important point, but accidents can happen to anyone!!
NRA: If everyone on that bus would've had a weapon they could have shot the ice and prevented going off the road
Patrick Hanna:
What do you mean by a "misused seat belt"? The reason children are required to be in the back seat of private vehicles is safety and the danger to them of airbags, not due to misused seatbelts. If preventing the misuse of seatbelts were the issue, adults could supervise the use of the seatbelt much better if the child were in the front seat as opposed to blindly in the back seat.
Just because a vehicle may be safer doesn't mean a person's safety isn't enhanced by the addition of a seatbelt. The same bs excuse brought to you by a government who encouraged and protected bankers that brought this country to its knees; lied to the public and brought us into a wasted 10 year war and continues to trample the rights of the people on which this country was founded.
Before you continue to label others "stupid", please, cite your source.
Debi,Why don't you give it a rest,offer your condolences and stop trying be so cold hearted about people losing their lives.
I feel great sympathy for the injured and the families of the ones who didn't survive. I would like to add, I used to drive a school bus, I know from experience that a bus is more likely to slide than a passenger car and much harder to try to bring out of a spin (or slide). It is a shame they couldn't have waited til the roads were clear or taken a safer route (if there is one).
It is very telling that neither state or federal government will enforce seatbelt laws on buses, it's all about the financial bottom line. We can't expect bus companies to waste their profits on us or our children can we?
Debi: A misused seat belt is a seatbelt that is not worn properly. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. And the danger from the airbags are not the only reason kids are required to be in special seats. It is also because adult seat belts do not fit them properly. You get a couple kids in the back of the bus screwing around and let the bus go off the road with the seat belt at the kids' neck. What do you think will happen? Yep, they will die or be seriously injured.
Everything I said is verifiable with about two seconds of google searches that will point you to government web sites about this. Don't blame me because you are too lazy to do your own research before you start going into apoplectic fits about how we are killing our children. I looked it up before I posted.
But that's probably too much to ask from someone who isn't smart enough to distinguish between fifty departments of transportation and the federal government. Go ahead. Keep being outraged. Your dearth of common sense is amusing.
Debi, no offense, but after reading some of your posts you kind of come off sounding like an unmedicated whack job and several people have pointed out how lunatic you sound. There's a fine line between being passionate and a maniacal whack job. Guess which side you are creeping towards. Hint It's not the passionate side. But honestly you're sounding like one of those whackjobs that wants to screech like a harpy on fire for the sake of hoping someone will latch onto your point of view.
School bus seat belts should not even be up for debate here, since this was NOT a school bus, NOR was it taking any children to school. Yes there were children aboard, I believe an 11 year old girl died. But so did a bunch of other people and your "WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN" bleating is coming off as creepy.
Ban charter buses?
Oh my !!! TIME TO BAN BUSES !!!
So now O-Abomination can blame the buses,,since cars kill more each year than any gun, should we ban cars and buses. Funny thing is about O-Abomination and his agenda,, Cigarettes kill more each year than any dam gun, yet this society lets them thrive,, just tells you how one sided the gun deception is,,Even drunks kill more each year than some gun, yet drunks are OK.. O-Abomination with one agenda, and the wrong one for sure in his selfish greedy theft of America
Yeah.....What he said double!
The the H*ell are you talking about?
Tobacco generates tax revenue. Autos and busses also generate tax revenue. It is all about the money
Chuck---- I agree "The the H*ell are you talking about?"
Honestly, I'm not even against guns, but people like you are nothing but annoying and give the rest of us a bad name. Why must the subject of guns be brought into EVERY single conversation. It's like you're obsessed and a little "off".
If any of you would study UN Agenda 21, you would see in the future there will be no transportation, only lite rails.. Why in the H do you think they are putting them in all across the country...Some of you better wise up.
How it relates to this article I don't know but...Ban handguns and assault weapons.
Busses are the root of all evil. Not only do they put millions of innocent people's life at stake, but they also have that nautious emission that has to hurt the ozone and have a gigantic negative effect on the global warming. I'll bet Al Gore is working on his next Pulitzer Prize winning study and he's probably doing that study on the internet since he invented it. Wow and I'll bet Obama will join him in his fight against busses and guns...since they are the two things that will bring this world to its knees...I say we start a campaign on taking all busses off the streets. They are just too dangerous.
Jack-999683,
I know you're being sarcastic, but please note that 1 bus with 40 people is an order of magnitude more efficient than 40 cars with 1 person.
And to Jean-982597, light-rail is the future whether you (or I) like it or not. Same thing - it comes down to efficiency. The world's petroleum supply is finite.
Doctors kill more people than guns, buses, cars altogether.
Screw it. Ban liberals!
Right on Chuck!
Need to ban all buses, Buses kill lots of people at one time.
"As it is appointed unto men once to die after this the judgment(Heb. 9:27)."
Don't matter, if it's a bus, car, truck, gun, cancer, broken heart, sucide, get ready for the next world, heaven or hell.
Prepare to meet thy God. You are going to die either way, so live a good life, be nice to others.
Ban buses not GUNS!!
Large capacity vehicles need to be banned, do it for the children!
Every time one of you idiots use a crash in defense of gun laws you make the rest of us who support the right to own a firearm look bad. More people die of heart attacks every year than guns, so lets ban hearts! Do you see how stupid it sounds especially when it's the first comments on a tragedy that people have died in. I oppose adding gun laws , they don't work. But mocking the death of other peoples loved ones is an a$$ move! Hey I've done it, and I feel bad for it. It's just wrong. So now go ahead and attack me for being the voice of reason.
Anything that pisses off a Liberal gun hater is fair and funny. Ban tour buses now.
Some people need to pull their heads out of a dark smelly place that is attached them and realize that NOT every one (Liberal or otherwise) wants to ban your guns. Grow the hell up and stop acting like you have NO sense.
Liberal (omg) and I own GUNS!!!! But I would NEVER join a cabbell such as the NRA. They leave A LOT to be desired and they LIE about anyone that does not follow their doctrine. Once again. Not everyone that is not a CON wants to ban your guns. Yes there are a some, but since banning is NEVER going to happen. Get over your damn selves.
Every time one of you idiots get mad on an online comment post.... trying counter a fabulous analogy and argue with people who clearly dont care...........whos really the stupid one? TROLLL!!
You didn't fallout of the stupid tree, you were dragged through the entire dumbass forest.
You're right Tired voter, I'd never join a cabbell(?) myself.
WHAT IN THE HOLY FUKING HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE BABBLING ABOUT ????
This is a story about a bus accident......ARE YOU FUKING INSANE ?????
By any chance you people are member of the Doomsday Prepper ????
one main reason why there should not be seat belts on buses is because when that bus went rolling down the hill and you or a child had a seat belt on they would feel it like a rope against their body each side they hit and when finally coming to a rest if upside down you and that child would be hanging from that belt until someone came for them. and not every seat belt fits everyone correctly. if it makes you feel better seat belts are now required on school bus manufactured after 2005 in california.
Can't people just send sympathy to the families of the dead and good wishes to the wounded? This has nothing to do with guns or politics or anything other than a really terrible accident. This is just sad news about fellow human beings.
I hope these folks can recover soon. It's a horrible time for people to lose loved ones. Condolences to the families.
So why are you here and not out donating blood or something?
People are so obsessed with guns. EVERY time there is a post about anything it's gun this and gun that and all the sarcastic remarks start flowing. I am actually not against guns and don't think restricting them will do a whole lot of good, BUT all this bitching and moaning is getting downright annoying. Seriously, it doesn't need to be brought up every second of the day and in every conversation.
Does anyone know where this Bus originated from? I read it twice but don't think it made a notation of it.
I don't know and the article does not say, but it could have been one of the casino buses from Whitehorse on I-84?
No. It was on a return trip to Vancouver from Las Vegas.
If we armed the bus drivers with guns things like this would never happen. Oh,ya I almost forgot, down with Obama too.
God Bless you, my idiot child.
Down with Obumer is the only intelligent thing you said.
This bus accident was george Bushes fault. He should have banned busses way before Obama got in. LOL
What a bunch of Maroons! I hope you don't live in Oregon because I do and I don't want to share my beautiful state with you idiots. Ban buses? What a crackpot idea that is. Blame President Obama for every thing you don't understand? Stupid, stupid people!! What a bunch of numb nuts! I'm ashamed of the people in this great nation. Get an education and learn how to spell before you mouth off. God bless the folks who have had this tragedy touch their lives.
Love it when a liberal with such obvious extreme intelligence sets everyone straight. How lucky we all are. May I ask just what your higher level of education was that allows you to look down on everyone else tillie. Was it Know Everything You Don't 101?
Do the rest of the nation a favor and stay the hell in Oregon, and your stupid opinion.
I live in Oregon too. tillie.024. There are so many trolls on Newsvine, and they aren't like the nice ones that live under the bridges along the Willamette, either. Most of them won't even stop their rants long enough to pay condolences to the families of the deceased.
In the spirit of the wonderful and lamented John Michael Callahan, and to console you, I offer this xkcd classic, "Someone is Wrong on the Internet":
http://xkcd.com/386/
And again, my condolences to the families of the deceased, and my best wishes for the injured and their families, and my gratitude to the first responders and all who are involved in helping and healing at this time.
Yes, tillie, and by all means, getting educated should also include understanding the difference between "maroon" (a dark red color) and "moron" (someone you think isn't as intelligent as you are).
My sympathies to the victims and their families.
I think tillie may have been quoting Bugs Bunny. And I love when someone points out that we should be offering sympathies for the loss of loved ones and other people bash them. Point made. You wouldn't be making your asinine comments if your mother was on that bus, now would you? And you probably would feel angry and hurt if you read them in that case, wouldn't you?
I extend my sympathies to the families of those who died, and hope for a speedy recovery for those injured.
Is there any political hay the marxist White House can make out of this ? Could It be the fault of the NRA ?
did a evil assault weapon AR15 jump out of the bushes and shoot the tires out? Anti gunners will claim That.
Ban assault weapons.
takenaka if they ban assault weapons you would be on the ban list, because you continue to shoot off your mouth
Nailer. I do believe that you NAILED it.
This could have been avoided?
yeah ! if he turned to the left instead of the right,but then if he turned "left" he would have killed alot more innocent drivers in a head on collision
Accidents are preventable, and Oregon is one of, if not THE ONLY state that refuses to use road salt.
We prefer lava rock, it keeps the Auto Glass folks in business. This creates jobs and is good for the economy! ☺
God bless Oregon for not using road salt. Ends up screwing up the water.
@bob douglas... Tell that to the families of the departed on this bus. It came out of the earth so let it go back into it. The greenest spot of lawn at my grandparents house is where he used to change the motor oil in his vehicles by digging a whole in the ground and removing the drain plug. Of course that isn't smart in today's standards but my point is the oil didn't kill us grandchildren and salt didn't exactly kill the other 47 states. Controlling the areas where it is used and maybe limiting it near reservoirs like most states that salt do seems to work just fine.
We don't use rock salt, because we use local products (lava rocks) on the roads. I've tried salt and sand (pulverized lava rock), and I much prefer sand, so keep whatever vested financial interests that you have in Morton or whatever the salt company out of the discussion.
All the salt or sand in the world won't change the name or the meaning of Deadman Pass. You could have magnets on the tires to hold it to the road, and wind and weather will still shove you off and over the guard rail, especially if you aren't used to the area, are driving too fast, or some idiot deer decides to jump out too close for you to evade it.
@ElkMeadow... Many trips up and down cabbage and I will agree it can be treacherous. Salt, sand, your trusty lava rock or heating pads in the road might have not been enough to save that bus. The freezing fog I have encountered up there in itself is enough to make me glad I don't truck anymore. No vested financial interest here but I do find humor in the salt is evil theory. It works out just fine in a lot of states.
Oregon roads are just as safe as any other states, including states that use salt.Salt not only destroys roads and vehicles it also damages streams ,rivers and lakes.Salt has not proved any more effective against accidents on ice and snow than what Oregon uses.You have to drive according to conditions.....its funny THANKYOUSOLDIERS that you say" Controlling the areas where it is used and maybe limiting it near reservoirs like most states that salt do seems to work just fine".Most of Oregons streams ,rivers and reservoirs are by major interstates especially I-84.Someone said in here that the driver was the one who was ultimately responsible for choosing his route and continuing....But we don't know the details, did a deer run out,did he blow a tire ,how fast was he going,did the driver doze.It doesn't really matter now does it...my prayers to all the families involved including to the rescue teams!!!!!!!!!
Oregon does use a deicer, just not salt. We like salt in our ocean not on our streams and lakes.
Mostly road "sand" is what supplies the traction.
Having driven that road many times it is a steep and windy stretch that is very dangerous in the winter.
SLOW DOWN and chain up if necessary.
What is really irritating is that speeding tour buses have been reported for years and no one seems to care that they regularly are clocked doing 80+ mph. Through-out the 1980s there was this unwritten " Law" that seemed to allow these drivers and companies to do whatever speed they felt like doing. Especially on their way to Casinos to promote " Commerce". State police would regularly ignore these speeding, un-maintained death traps and NOW that there have been a couple hundred deaths... all of a sudden it seems like a new problem.
I have lived at the base of the blue mountains my whole life. And i have seen how dangerous cabbage hill can be in the winter I have hear many truckers claim it is the worst mountain pass in the united states.
When I first read the comments about banning high capasity I was all for it, But then i got to thinking wouldn't it be easier to ban the ice and snow.
I mean what do we need with all this ice and snow, snow men and ice skating are over rated
Now that the crazy talk is out of the way maybe we can get to talking about something important
looks like that bus drove off the cliff and obama couldn't do a thing !!
Time too ban buses so that this sort of thing never happens again
Living is dangerous! you might die!
The bus went off the fiscal cliff?
Steve. And so will the United States, I hope.We need to get our house in order. The Republicans have just about ruined the United States. Obama and the Democrats could have save the United States if the Republicans had been on that bus.
wascigarman:
Way to keep the HATE going, fella! If all liberals have that level of hate the Democrat Party will be washed up by 2016! This is America mister, and in the end we all come together enough to work out our problems--- at least the adults do. Grow up (if you can!)
These posts are unbelievable. Why must everything be about politics?
I have driven I-84 in this area many times. If the accident happened where I think it must have, there is a very steep down grade that is dangerous even without ice and snow, (brake failures, etc.) The solution would be to tame the slope with cutbacks, but that might slow traffic.
Ban busses?, might as well ban airplanes as they carry even more passengers. Let's just allow bicycles. Get real people.
It was right past Deadmans Pass Rest Area going Westbound just before the down grade. Bus was heading to BC from Vegas.
Buses should be limited, no more than 10 people on at one time. You dont need more then that and no where in the constitution does it say you can even own one.
Plllleeeessssse stop.. I have seen one comment from anyone who knows anything of what you speak. You are all just wrong. Seat belts in buses?. Who is going to enforce compliance? The bus driver? Who is going to stop little Johny from whackin little Lucy on the head with one of the buckles? Anyway it is available is some juricdictions. there is all kinds of safety built in to schoolbuses. Much of it is in the seat design.
But this accident had nothing to do with schoolbuses and how do you know the bus in this accident did not have seatbelts? They are now optional in the manufactureing process of Highway buses. In some situations they are probably helpfull. but then again I can envision all kinds of accidents they would be detrimental.
This accident was the result of bad road conditions and perhaps other mitigating factors. Like blowing a steering tire in a corner ofn an icey road. I84 in the area of La Grande Ore. has many wide and not so wide turns. Only an accident invstigation will be able to determine the cause of this accident.
Stop making idiotic comments about things you don't know anything about. People died in this accident and many were injured. Have some respect those people and all of the people out here who are concerned about them.
Maybe we should just take all the buses and trucks off the road in the winter? What is wrong with you people.
This accident was 14 miles East of Pendleton and 35 miles West of LaGrande. Sound as if you know Cabbage Hill a bit. Dangerous in any weather and anytime of the year.
Thank you Old Trucker 99!!!!!!!
Accidents are preventable, and Oregon is one of, if not the ONLY state that does not use road salt.
So? We use lava rock and sand, and Deadman's Pass is named that for a reason.
Accidents are what they are--accidents. Like double or triple posting here is an accident.
Oregon uses deicer, just not salt. We have too many lakes & streams. The grvel along with the deicer works well. The main thing is to just slow down when conditions are poor.