WDW Bus Collision Near the CR

[Kathy C]

How much safer would a child be sitting in a seat instead of on moms lap.

I disagree with this - at least in the mom's lap, for the most part, the child is being held onto unlike sitting in a seat alone without a seatbelt. And, I agree accidents are bound to happen even in WDW. Just glad everyone is okay!

 

[declansdad]

Adding more buses will not necessarily make them less crowded. Buses are designed to carry people who are seating or standing. If there is a crowd of people, they will fill the bus as it was designed. You also wouldn't add more buses into the cycle unless the traffic warranted it.


Glad to hear that everyone is ok.

 

[declansdad]

I hope everyone involved in the accident is ok.

It's also weird that the last three bus accidents have happened at or near the Contemporary. When I was there in December 2008 there was the accident at the Contemporary where the Disney bus hit that van which was parked in the buses only zone, that Cast Member who was killed a few months ago on World Drive when the bus hit her car and today's accident.

It doesn't surprise me that there are more accidents in that area. It is quite congested when you compare it to the bus entrance/exits to the other parks.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

It doesn't surprise me that there are more accidents in that area. It is quite congested when you compare it to the bus entrance/exits to the other parks.

That's actually a good point because around the Magic Kingdom bus station there are always a lot of buses coming in and leaving, especially around the time when the Magic Kingdom has closed for the evening. Plus don't forget about the buses which are coming into and leaving the Contemporary.

 

[WDWKOOK]

Some school districts have tossed around the idea of installing them in school buses. I'm sure WDW has done a cost-benefit analysis on the issue. Is it even possible to retrofit them? Do you think seat belts would be a good idea for WDW buses.

 

[NotUrsula]

That particular stretch of road is not well-designed, IMO. Motorists headed to the MK resorts or to drop off at MK get confused in there with the lane changes when you exit the Toll Plaza, and they tend to stay confused all the way to the resorts unless they regularly drive in that area. The road is fairly narrow where you have to make that lane cross, and the number of busses getting bottlenecked there and again near Seven Seas is pretty high.

I agree that with the advent of Magical Express, resort capacity being what it is, the busses are starting to be overtaxed, especially when hours are shortened and you get more people funneling into one park at the same time. Light rail would be good, but the problem is the existence of the monorail -- tying it smoothly into another system that served the entire property would be difficult, as people who are unused to public transit tend to have issues with multiple transfers. I guess that next logical step will be articulated buses, but as Tyler once pointed out, the park stops are not made to accomodate them, and would have to be completely redesigned and rebuilt.

 

[nnanciejean]

FYI - I know this is no longer the board about the monorail incident, but I would just like to post a brief update about it. Most of you are unaware that last week another monorail pilot was in an auto accident on the way home from work and died. The department is pretty shaken up with these two events and now there is news about a bus accident. And a few months ago a watercraft cast member was hit head-on by a man going the wrong way near Epcot. So when people are talking about "3's", I'm thinking the watercraft and two monorail pilots would be the three. Thank you for listening.

 

[truck1]

Some school districts have tossed around the idea of installing them in school buses. I'm sure WDW has done a cost-benefit analysis on the issue. Is it even possible to retrofit them? Do you think seat belts would be a good idea for WDW buses.

After driving those busses for several years, I doubt that they could be retrofitted. Simply because of the way the seats are designed. You would have to probably put new style seats in every bus.

As far as seatbelt use on the bus, on some of the longer routes, it would probably give people a "Peace of Mind", but in reality, DOT has set the safety parameters for those busses and busses in general, so at least theoretically, they are as safe as they are going to be.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Some school districts have tossed around the idea of installing them in school buses. I'm sure WDW has done a cost-benefit analysis on the issue. Is it even possible to retrofit them? Do you think seat belts would be a good idea for WDW buses.

It's state law in NJ that all school buses have seat belts.
People, esp children, are projectiles in a crash.

 

[goofy4tink]

Some school districts have tossed around the idea of installing them in school buses. I'm sure WDW has done a cost-benefit analysis on the issue. Is it even possible to retrofit them? Do you think seat belts would be a good idea for WDW buses.

Probably not. Much study has gone into the use of seatbelts in school buses. Some school districts use them but I think they are in the minority. I know ours doesn't. Why? Because it's a nightmare to get a bus full of scared, screaming K-4 students out of a bus quickly. Yes, kids are projectiles. But bus accidents happen so seldom that most districts seem to feel it isnt necessarty to belt the kids in. Not looking for a debate here...just giving the reasons our school district went with no belts.
Besides...if you were to outfit the Disney buses with seatbelts, you have now cut down the capacity by half..much longer waits for buses. I know most people want to be safe, but they forget about that when having to wait over 30 mins for a bus...they want a bus and they want it now!

FYI - I know this is no longer the board about the monorail incident, but I would just like to post a brief update about it. Most of you are unaware that last week another monorail pilot was in an auto accident on the way home from work and died. The department is pretty shaken up with these two events and now there is news about a bus accident. And a few months ago a watercraft cast member was hit head-on by a man going the wrong way near Epcot. So when people are talking about "3's", I'm thinking the watercraft and two monorail pilots would be the three. Thank you for listening.

I'm really sorry to hear of yet another death. That's so sad. WDW is like a small city, with a huge number of CMs working there....it's not hard to imagine that there are going to be deaths more often than we like to think about. But that doesn't make it any easier.
Thanks for letting us know.