Epcot Center Drive closed due to major accident

[Goofyernmost]

I'm sorry, I cannot upload their report from my phone.

That report is weeks away from being published. These investigations are very detailed.

 

[PhotoDave219]

That report is weeks away from being published. These investigations are very detailed.

Okay, the preliminary narrative will not upload from my phone.

The highway patrol says the deceased stopped in the left lane for reasons unknown. The bus struck the vehicle.

Picky, picky

 

[Tom]

Assured Clear Distance Ahead. It requires drivers to maintain a safe distance between their vehicle and the one ahead. It is called different things in different states but is an ordinance in all 50. That may or may not be the case here. Eye witnesses are often very unreliable. The FHP will do a very detailed and professional investigation and the final report will end all of our speculation.

And like with all things, ACDA is relative. If you're in open traffic, with no sign of congestion ahead, the "safe distance" can be much shorter than if you're traveling the same speed in very heavy traffic or a single/double lane road.

I'm not saying this is what happened today, but if you're cruising along in fairly open and smooth-flowing traffic, even a large "safe distance" may not be enough to stop a loaded bus from coming to a complete stop before hitting a car that has completely, and unexpectedly, stopped in an active 50-mph lane.

It's sad that someone lost their life because of this, regardless.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Okay, the preliminary narrative will not upload from my phone.

The highway patrol says the deceased stopped in the left lane for reasons unknown. The bus struck the vehicle.

Picky, picky

I wish no ill of the dead, but you have no idea how much I hope that those films will show that it was a sudden thing and unavoidable. It is bad enough that even if he is found to not be at fault, to live with that thought for the rest of ones life is not something that I would wish upon my worst enemy. I truly hope it wasn't negligence on the part of the bus driver. The preliminary will probably say that he was, but the films could vindicate him enough to make it a little easier to mentally deal with.

 

[JimboJones123]

Note to self:

Do not stop in the fast lane.

I do not post this to be silly. Cars do crazy stuff on Disney property. Running over medians to turn around on the highways. Going reverse on the highways. Wrong ways on one ways.

If nothing else, hopefully drivers won't treat it like driving the wild west on property anymore.

I swear, more speed traps would not be a bad thing either. I NEVER see a police presence out there.

 

[JimboJones123]

Okay, the preliminary narrative will not upload from my phone.

The highway patrol says the deceased stopped in the left lane for reasons unknown. The bus struck the vehicle.

Picky, picky

Great work Dave.

 

[Tom]

I wish no ill of the dead, but you have no idea how much I hope that those films will show that it was a sudden thing and unavoidable. It is bad enough that even if he is found to not be at fault, to live with that thought for the rest of ones life is not something that I would wish upon my worst enemy. I truly hope it wasn't negligence on the part of the bus driver. The preliminary will probably say that he was, but the films could vindicate him enough to make it a little easier to mentally deal with.

I agree 100%. Whether one is guilty or not, knowing that you took someone's life - even accidentally - is a tough cross to bear for the rest of your life. Fortunately I don't know this feeling personally, but we can all imagine how we'd feel if it happened to us. And the last thing you want to happen to someone who's going through that is to be wrongfully punished also.

If there was gross negligence on the part of the bus driver, that's another story. Time will tell.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I wish no ill of the dead, but you have no idea how much I hope that those films will show that it was a sudden thing and unavoidable. It is bad enough that even if he is found to not be at fault, to live with that thought for the rest of ones life is not something that I would wish upon my worst enemy. I truly hope it wasn't negligence on the part of the bus driver. The preliminary will probably say that he was, but the films could vindicate him enough to make it a little easier to mentally deal with.

The preliminary narrative does not suggest any negligence on behalf of the bus driver.

 

[Crazydisneyfanluke]

Just wondering, does the Disney bus have cameras?

Note to self:

Do not stop in the fast lane.

I do not post this to be silly. Cars do crazy stuff on Disney property. Running over medians to turn around on the highways. Going reverse on the highways. Wrong ways on one ways.

If nothing else, hopefully drivers won't treat it like driving the wild west on property anymore.

I swear, more speed traps would not be a bad thing either. I NEVER see a police presence out there.

 

[Crazydisneyfanluke]

Note to self:

Do not stop in the fast lane.

I do not post this to be silly. Cars do crazy stuff on Disney property. Running over medians to turn around on the highways. Going reverse on the highways. Wrong ways on one ways.

If nothing else, hopefully drivers won't treat it like driving the wild west on property anymore.

I swear, more speed traps would not be a bad thing either. I NEVER see a police presence out there.

I was on my way to SWW and was pulled over just off the ramp from 1-4 where they changed the speed limit from 45mph to 35mph and rearranged markings on the road. The cop was sitting just around a corner and was pulling people over 1 after 1.

 

[RunnerFool]

They said 36 people were on the bus. I've always had a problem with those buses being packed with people - yes it's allowed, but I'm always uncomfortable when young ones are standing up holding on to their dad's pant leg. Or even if daddy standing and holding his child! I know taking a few people off the bus wouldn't have made that much of a difference, but I imagine it's at least a little harder to stop when the bus is jammed packed.

 

[JimboJones123]

They said 36 people were on the bus. I've always had a problem with those buses being packed with people - yes it's allowed, but I'm always uncomfortable when young ones are standing up holding on to their dad's pant leg. Or even if daddy standing and holding his child! I know taking a few people off the bus wouldn't have made that much of a difference, but I imagine it's at least a little harder to stop when the bus is jammed packed.

Nobody can stand on THOSE busses. The resort ones, yes. Not these. They are charter bus types with 2x2 seats and TV monitors to watch while sitting. No standing.

 

[JimboJones123]

They said 36 people were on the bus. I've always had a problem with those buses being packed with people - yes it's allowed, but I'm always uncomfortable when young ones are standing up holding on to their dad's pant leg. Or even if daddy standing and holding his child! I know taking a few people off the bus wouldn't have made that much of a difference, but I imagine it's at least a little harder to stop when the bus is jammed packed.

The bus had a fixed number of seats as well. Same seats that every one of these type of bus have across the entire country. They are built to not only carry the proper number of passengers, but 100+ pounds of luggage along for each as well. Sometimes much heavier cargo.

 

[RunnerFool]

The bus had a fixed number of seats as well. Same seats that every one of these type of bus have across the entire country. They are built to not only carry the proper number of passengers, but 100+ pounds of luggage along for each as well. Sometimes much heavier cargo.

Ah, I didn't put that together in the picture. Well, my comment still stands - I hate the fact that they make people stand in the resort buses.
Side note: My orchestra class went to Disney, and on the last day it was a bit chilly. The bus driver had the bottom compartments of the charter bus open so kids could go in and get their jackets. My friend and I were the last two to get our jackets, and I guess he didn't look - next thing I know, we were shut inside the compartment.
Ahhh scariest 4 and a half minutes of my life

 

[Goofyernmost]

Ah, I didn't put that together in the picture. Well, my comment still stands - I hate the fact that they make people stand in the resort buses.
Side note: My orchestra class went to Disney, and on the last day it was a bit chilly. The bus driver had the bottom compartments of the charter bus open so kids could go in and get their jackets. My friend and I were the last two to get our jackets, and I guess he didn't look - next thing I know, we were shut inside the compartment.
Ahhh scariest 4 and a half minutes of my life

Well, they don't exactly make them stand, they allow them to stand, there is a big difference. Most municipal buses have holding stanchions because it is expected that instead of waiting for another bus they would be happy to stand to get to their destination. If you go to board a bus and you see that it is full, you can always just not get on. They won't care and hopefully the next bus will be less crowded, but there is no guarantee. The larger buses used for ME in all likelihood have at least 44 seats available on them.

 

[englanddg]

The FHP found that the Buick came to a complete stop in the far left lane and the ME bus was unable to stop before hitting her.

The accident looked very bad. I drove by the aftermath...

 

[draybook]

I'm not trying to incite anything, but is it really that important to assign blame here? Dang, at least let a few days pass before putting blame onto the deceased.

 

[englanddg]

I'm not trying to incite anything, but is it really that important to assign blame here? Dang, at least let a few days pass before putting blame onto the deceased.

I don't think there is any direct blame tone had...it was a 96 Buick, I think. Any sort of mechanical failures a distinct possibility, and it could easily have been out of the drivers hands (both of them) to avoid the tragity.

There is a reason it is called an accident.

I pray for her family.

 

[rob0519]

Simply speculating here but stopping your car In a 50mph speed limit zone in front of heavy bus traffic is not tragic, rather its avoidable.

Agreed, if the woman "stopped" her car in a 50 mph zone it's avoidable. Until all the facts are in, let's not rule out the possibility of mechanical failure, which would make it tragic. I had a fuel pump fail on a tollway and my car's engine just stopped, sending the car into a slow glide until it stopped. Fortunately, I was in the far right lane and was able to get most of the car onto the shoulder. Had I been in the middle lane, my result may have been the same as this unfortunate woman.

 

[PhotoDave219]

As usual, I must interject here. At this point I do not know anymore then any of us about what exactly happened. As a licensed bus driver and someone that in my managerial position, had the wonderful job of investigating many bus/car accidents in my time I have made a few observations just based on the accident scene.

Bear in mind that it is very possible that I am wrong, but judging from the angle of impact, which looks to be square with the back of the car, I would immediately think that it was not a cut off situation. That usually would involve an angled damage not a flat on hit. I don't know why they slowed down or stopped but as mentioned, it could very well be mechanical and not just a stupid action on the part of the driver, but, it really doesn't matter. As a holder of a CDL with passenger endorsement there are certain things that a driver must always keep in mind. One is speed...that car was hit with considerable speed and this was inside Disney property, from what they have said. I don't know of many places on property where the speed limit is much over 35 miles per hour. To do that much damage it had to be doing, at the very least, 35 miles an hour and no effort to stop would have been made. That leads us to part two. A driver must always be aware of his/her surroundings and the safe zone that must be maintained in traffic. A driver must always be in complete control of their vehicle and that includes allowing enough space to either stop or take evasive action to avoid an accident. Just from what I was able to see at the scene, unless some really convincing information surfaces this will clearly be the fault of the bus driver. Rule of thumb, unless extenuating circumstances arise, the vehicle that hits another vehicle will almost always be at fault. Unfortunate, yes, but that lady didn't have a good day either. In fact, I'd have to say it was a lot worse.

Specific location was 50 yards east of overpass rd on ECD. Left lane. Approx 325. Overcast co

Agreed, if the woman "stopped" her car in a 50 mph zone it's avoidable. Until all the facts are in, let's not rule out the possibility of mechanical failure, which would make it tragic. I had a fuel pump fail on a tollway and my car's engine just stopped, sending the car into a slow glide until it stopped. Fortunately, I was in the far right lane and was able to get most of the car onto the shoulder. Had I been in the middle lane, my result may have been the same as this unfortunate woman.

Again, I'm referencing what the Florida Highway Patrol is saying. They say that the woman just stopped.