Bus driver chooses GPS over gigantic warning sign, plows into overpass
By Darren Murph 
posted April 17th 2008 10:56PM
posted April 17th 2008 10:56PM
[Thanks, Raleigh]
posted April 17th 2008 10:56PM
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nope, it's in Washington State, at least the bus company is from there, seattle area
It's the same thing in Boston's Storrow Drive where it seems that every other week an over sized vehicle is either stuck on or before the Storrow Drive tunnel. It seems like reading road signs is not required by CDL drivers.
Just sad on many different levels.
People that blindly follow GPS need to all be sent to Pittsburgh. It would be like lemmings jumping to thier deaths.
Seriously, how did he die. Well the GPS said to go straight, he saw the cliff but well the GPS said to go straight.
For people that don't know there are instances where a side street ends in Pittsburgh but a rock staircase goes down the side of the cliff and connects to another street at the bottom. The GPS doesn't know that the road is actually a set of stairs and tells you to follow it because it connects to where you want to go.
Not that original...he got the idea from an episode of "THE OFFICE." Micheal Scott drives into Lake Scranton because GPS told him to.
this was a few blocks from my house. it was a road she shouldn't have been on because that road is very curvy and that bus is too long to be able to stay in their own lane. the more traveled road roughly 3-5 blocks away is where she should have been and had no problems. amusing though.....
Were Michael Scott and/or Dwight Schrute driving this bus?
In the driver's defense, If he is British would he know what 9'-0" mean because they use the metric system. Right?
I don't think it is GPS fault for accidents like these... Seriously it is the people on the road now a day. I've seen people driving into a one way street before realizing it, when they're almost midway down the block, then they back up all the way to the intersection they went in from to go around the right way!
My sister always ask me when she can drive my car, she recently passed her road test. I tell her, it's not that I don't trust your driving ( I did teach her for the most part), it is the idiots out there on the street that I'm worry about. To this day she still think I don't trust her driving skill.
And if the GPS told him to drive down a road that was obviously under several feet of water, would he have continued to drive down that road as well? (I'm sure the GPS doesn't tell him to stop at stop signs and rail crossings when the cross-arms come down, but I would hope that he would do it.)
What an idiot.
After about 14 years of driving buses I've found that the windshield gives a much larger picture than the GPS screen and it tends to be more useful for collision avoidance.
Jim K.
Looks like the worlds biggest can and can opener.
what a stupid pill popper read the map gps is a joke was one idiot in tn. followed gps right on to railroad tracks with train coming bet bus driver was talking on phone too all gps is good for is so big brother knows where you are this crap has got to stop teach map reading 101 and no phone usage while driving i had an idiot in va. not long ago pass me while watching gps he pulled in cutting me off i stopped for gas and back on interstate was gps user upside down he was not paying attention and drove right up bank.haha did i stop no let him hang upside down idiot.
What The Bus? I was hauling this Overpass and Ran out of Fuel!!!
He cant drive a bus but you should see him deliver bridges
GPS units are "stupid gadgets for stupid people". i drove trucks in every major american city for 25 years and never needed to be guided along like a lost puppy dog. its a sad sad world nowadays.
what a shit head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First off, not one of you mentioned the fact that on the GPS there are several menus that allow you to change advoidances IE toll roads, ferry's ect... and another down menu gives you the option for choosing legal roads driven by car/motorcycle, TRUCK/BUS(Commerical Vehicle)/, TAXI, Oversided Load....ECT. The GPS if set correctly and the maps updated isn't the reason for the busdriver crashing into the bridge. So don't blame the GPS Navagation system, it's the operators fault. Judging by the picture that guy wasn't even close to paying attention because if he had saw signs that warn of low clearing, he would have breaked. He might have topped the bridge depending on how fast he was going but he wouldn't have tried to drive through it as the picture suggests.
Just FYI ... nobody has mentioned that this was in the Arboritum area of Seattle.
Everyone loves a convertible, its just a passenger bus convertible thats all.
Mindlessly obeying instructions invariably leads to disaster. The driver was lucky no one was injured. Nothing substitutes for common sense - and driving with your eyes open helps, too.
Maybe they could install a system that would assess the height of an oncoming vehicle and if it is too tall, activate built-in spike strips to blow the tires before the bridge is stuck. Put up warning signs that this will be the consequence of attempting to drive under the bridge and I wager there would be a LOT fewer trucks hitting it.
If you are thinking of replying, please activate your sense of humor first, and deactivate all negative impulses.
Let me guess, he told the cops he was delivering a bridge, right?!
Good thing this didn't hapen in Briton, with their double decker buses.
Good example that Bus & Trucking companies are desperate for drivers. I'll stay home before I'd ever take a bus. Watching bus drivers drive them scares me.
what a retard how could u be so dumb GPS is for dumb and lazy people what happened to maps people forget how to read jesus.
You would think this day and age that our bridges would accomodate our vehicles. Instead we must use alternate routes and waste fuel because our bridges aren't tall enough for Buses or Trucks. Come on America.
i have been driving all over the States for las 30 years never use a GPS before , did no exist , I never got lost , Why Should I use one now ?
...I wonder what Ted Kennedy would say about this.....Even though its not over water...this bridge is clearly troubled.....
Geez! I can't stand my GPS - never gives me the right route! I think someone should sue!! Yeah, I know, sue crazy, but these companies should be held accountable and the only way is to hit them in their pockets!