Photo by Josephine Sherwood. Click to enlarge.
A school bus hopped the curb and crashed into 161 West 86th Street around 1 p.m. on Friday, though luckily no one aboard was reported injured, according to FDNY.
Josephine Sherwood said she saw the awning on the ground and was initially confused.
“I happened to be walking a dog at the time, on that block,” she wrote. “At first, I thought that the awning had collapsed with all the rain that was coming down. As I got closer, I saw that a bus had gone into the building, knocking down the awning. The police officer said that the driver had stepped on the gas instead of the brake. I guess in his confusion he must have jerked the wheel to the right, going into the building.”
We weren’t immediately able to confirm the cause and the FDNY did not have further info.
School Bus “DRIVER” Crashed Into Building on 86TH.
Unless it was a truly mechanical failure, crashes only happen due to poor decisions drivers make behind the wheel.
However, it does not make the statement untrue to omit “driver”: the schoolbus did actually crash into building regardless of the reason.
It does not make the statement untrue but it removes responsibility from the person operating the vehicle. This is the classic and pervasive windshield perspective that tends to exonerate people from their infractions which sometimes leads to injury and death of innocent bystanders.
The article states that “luckily no one aboard was reported injured.” Aren’t we also lucky that no one walking on the sidewalk was injured? And will a driver who confuses the brake and the gas pedal be allowed to continue to hold the lives of children in his hands (and feet)?
Another driver confuses gas and brake. When will we demand this basic competency from those licensed to operate potentially deadly motor vehicles?
Hey, it is really really really hard to tell the difference between left and right. Should we take away a person’s right to make a living driving our defenseless children around this otherwise dangerous city just because they sometimes forget which pedal makes the bus go a lot faster, and which one is responsible for making it not go forward anymore? What’s next, if a driver can’t tell the difference between a green light and a red light, you aren’t going to let them drive either?