In this Preventable or Not accident scenario, a trucker and a school bus both attempt a left turn when the bus drifts into the trucker's lane. Despite stopping and sounding his horn, the trucker couldn’t prevent the bus from side-swiping his rig. Charged with a preventable accident by his safety director, the trucker fought back, bringing the case to the National Safety Council for review. Who did the NSC rule in favor of?
CCJ's Preventable or Not series is sponsored by CarriersEdge, creator of interactive online training for small and midsize fleets, including comprehensive safety, compliance and best practices content for truck drivers.
At dawn, trucker John Doe headed east on four-lane Pickwick Pike. The sun rose in a cloudless sky and the traffic was light.
Doe looked forward to an easy trip with his stash of granola bars and a jug of hot coffee at the ready, but his milk run was about to turn sour.
Pickwick Pike dead-ended at Route 7, where he needed to turn left. To ensure room for the wide turn, Doe got into the right lane. When the light turned green, Doe eyeballed Route 7 traffic for any red light runners before he cautiously starting to execute his turn.
In the adjacent turn lane, a city school bus driver also started to turn left, but he didn’t turn sharply enough and moved partially into Doe’s lane.
Shocked to disbelief, Doe stopped dead and sounded his horn. The bus driver failed to react and side-swiped Doe’s rig.
It took another granola bar to calm Doe down, but even that couldn’t help him get over the warning letter he received from his safety director for the preventable accident. Doe disagreed that he should have hung back and anticipated that the bus would encroach on his lane.
Asked to resolve the dispute, the National Safety Council’s Accident Review Committee ruled in Doe’s favor. He had proceeded with caution and acted appropriately but still fell prey to the bus driver, who had plenty of room to maneuver and initially did not appear to pose a threat, the NSC said.
