January 12, 2002
As I was walking across the Fort Duquesne bridge to go to work this morning, I saw a traffic accident had happened. This isn't unusual; the Fort Duquesne bridge and the Fort Pitt bridge are two of the worst-laid-out stretches of expressway I've ever seen. No matter what direction you're coming from, staying on I-279 requires you to change lanes, and this causes a lot of fender-benders.
So anyway, I see the "blinking arrow truck" diverting people around the affected lane, then a cop car with its light bar on, then a minivan and a bus, each with their four-ways on. As I walk past I take a look: The bus is fine.
The minivan, however, will never be driven again. The van was going so fast that it actually sheared when it hit the bus -- some of it going under, the rest getting compacted about a foot. Then it apparently bounced back the half-car-length that I saw it sitting from the bus.
I'm no expert, but he had to have been moving at a pretty high speed relative to the bus to do somethihng like that. What I want to know is, how can you possibly fail to notice something the size of a bus right in front of you?
